


Better With You

by autumnplants



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Attempted Suicide, M/M, Mentioned Abuse, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, axel/saix - Freeform, better with you, demyx/zexion - Freeform, mentioned drug use, past Axel/Saix - Freeform, past vanitas/roxas, sora/riku - Freeform, talks of suicide, zack/cloud - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 00:55:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 73,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16483001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnplants/pseuds/autumnplants
Summary: After 5 years of being single, Roxas allows his cousin to set him on a blind date. Little does he know that the blind date who arrived almost two hours late, would end up being the love of his life.





	1. First Dates

 

 

When his cousin, Sora, made the suggestion that going an a blind date would be good for him, Roxas wasn’t too keen on the idea. He had been on quite a few blind dates to know that they didn’t always work out. Usually the person was too weird, creepy, or an uneven mixture of both.

It also didn’t help that Riku made the suggestion to Sora who then mentioned it to Roxas.

Roxas had heard that some of Riku’s friends weren’t the most reputable and he highly doubted any of them were his type.

There was also the minor detail that Roxas just wasn’t sure if he was really ready to date again. Sure, he had ended things with Vanitas almost 3 years ago, but that didn’t change his views on starting something with someone new.

Years of abuse would do that to someone.

Roxas had been in the kitchen preparing his lunch for the day when Sora walked in. “Ya know, Roxas, it is just one date. If the guy is a complete creep you can just throw in the towel and not see him again.” Sora argued, once again bringing up the idea of a blind date.

Sighing, Roxas shoved his sandwich into a ziploc bag. “Well, when you put it that way, I can’t really argue with that.” He hated admitting when Sora was right.

“And if it turns out he’s not a creep, then cool, you got yourself a new boyfriend.”

“I’ll think about it.” Roxas forced himself not to roll his eyes.

He was still really hesitant about meeting someone without talking to them a little bit first. Even he and Vanitas had a few years of friendship under their belts before a romantic relationship blossomed.

Shaking his head, Roxas blocked out the awful memories. He needed to constantly remind himself that not every person he encountered was like his ex.

Before any final decision could be made, Roxas had to think about his mental health. Would this person Riku was setting him up with respect that he had anxiety and PTSD? Would they respect that he was abused by his ex-boyfriend and understand that it would take time for their relationship to develop?

There was so much weighing on his shoulders. Was he ready to truly start dating? He had thought about the different possibilities of what would happen if he did agree to go on this date and things did work out.

The more he thought about it, the more Roxas leaned more toward yes. He just needed to get out there and do it. Go on the date and stop holding himself back.

Which is why he found himself now at the busy restaurant, waiting to be seated. Sounds of chatter and food being cooked filled the air. Waiters and hosts bustled around tables, passing food and drink to sitting patrons.  

Roxas's hair was tamed as much as it would allow, a black dress shirt, black pants, a pair of converse, and then a final touch of a checkered bow tie, courtesy of Sora.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. He could feel his heart palpitating with each passing moment (and each passing patron that happened to catch his eye.) he was greeted by the host and lead to a table set for two.

The table itself had two menus placed across from each other and a basket filled condiments; ketchup, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper and those little jelly packs that usually only came in three flavors.

“Would you like some water? Or I could start you off with an appetizer, while you wait?” The waiter who seated him asked.

“Water is fine, thank you.”  

The waiter nodded and left, returning shortly with Roxas's drink.

Roxas sat playing with the straw wrapper as he waited, heart racing as each good looking patron walked up to his table, disappointment settling into his stomach when they passed instead of stopping.

As it inched closer to an half hour of waiting, Roxas started looking through his various social media sites, liking posts and retweeting things he thought were funny.

He looked through his text messages making sure he had the right place. Knowing his luck, Roxas would end up going to the wrong restaurant.

Thankfully luck was on his side as he confirmed he was in the right place.

The waiter stopped by his table, refilling his drink and asked if he wanted anything to eat while he waited. Roxas denied politely.

It was when the hour mark that Roxas started to get less anxious and anger started to settle in. He wish would’ve at least given this Axel person his number so if he was late or even had to cancel, Roxas was sitting at the table, looking and feeling like a damn loser.

After bouncing between twitter and tumblr for third time, Roxas leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He should’ve brought some of his homework so he had _something_ to do as he waited. His phone’s battery could only live for so long.

It was getting close to an hour and a half, when Roxas got up to use the restroom. Once he was sitting back at the table, he started looking at the menu, deciding that he had been ultimately stood up.

As he was berating Sora for making him believe that a blind date was a good idea, someone ran up to him, nearly crashing into the table and knocking his water over.

Roxas looked to see a tall, thin, yet filled out red head, with striking green eyes and a face covered in sweat, leaning against the table, trying to catch his breath.

He was wearing a dark burgundy dress shirt, tucked into black skinny jeans. Shiny loafers adorned his feet. His vibrant red hair was long, pulled back into a ponytail and Roxas's eyes landed on the two delicate upside raindrop tattoos on his face. If he wasn’t angry with the redhead, he’d probably find them sexy.

He was bent over, inhaling deeply, in an attempt to catch his breath and his hand was massaging here his hip had made contact with the wooden table, which gave Roxas a full view of this person’s stretched ear and industrial piercing.

Had he known, Roxas wouldn’t have taken his own plugs of for the date.

“Roxas, right?” The man asked finally standing up, his breathing finally starting to stabilize.

“Yeah, you must be Axel?” Roxas questioned dryly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. His date better have a good excuse as to why he was almost _two hours_ late.

Being late wouldn’t have been such a big deal to him, if Axel would’ve been able to give him a heads up on his tardiness.

Axel took a seat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I am so sorry that I’m late. Traffic was backed up so much; one of the public transit buses broke down and they had us detour.  I really tried to get here earlier, I even took a half lunch so I could leave a half hour early. Riku was telling me about how great you were and I know two hours was a really long time to wait, but I really wanted to meet you. I am so sorry I’m late. Please, let me make it up to you.” He pleaded.

Roxas just stared at his water, his lips pursed. His eyes met with Axel’s and he sighed, his resolve diminishing with each second that their eyes stayed on eachother. Letting out a sigh, Roxas shifted. “ _Fine_.” He agreed

After all Axel wanted to meet _him._

Axel gave him a nervous smile, feeling Roxas's unfaltering gaze, and grabbed a menu to look at drinks as a waitress walked up.

Deciding to order himself a glass of wine, Axel directed his attention to the food portion of the menu, figuring he should focus on something other than the cute blond in front of him. It was hard for him to read the blond. Was Roxas honestly upset with him? He couldn’t blame him, but at the same time, the public transit breaking down was not his fault. He hoped his apology came off sincere enough.

When Riku suggested the blind date, Axel didn’t know what to expect but was completely on board. He hadn’t really tried seeing anyone since Saix and the idea of dating someone new, after 3 long years, didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.

Riku didn’t have bad taste in men and when he mentioned it was Sora’s cousin, he figured his date couldn’t be too bad, considering Sora’s big blue eyes and soft, cute, welcoming smile.

And he was right, his date wasn’t bad. In fact, Axel thought he was quite the looker. Now if they could get past the awkward silence that blanketed over their table.

Axel looked at the menu, his eyes looking over the top to glance at Roxas, his heart beating in his chest, when sapphire blue eyes locked onto his. He leaned back against his seat trying to get the leather cushion to absorb him.

He felt like such a creep for just watching his date over the menu. As they looked at the menu (and each other) the waiter walked up, asking if he could get them anything to drink to start, which came as a relief to both men. Axel was still beating himself up over being late and Roxas couldn’t keep his eyes off his dates tattoos.

Roxas ordered himself a root beer, since he wasn’t much of a drinker and licked his lips.

Axel requested a glass of Pinot Noir.

“So…how do you know Riku?” Roxas asked while he tried to concentrate on something other than green eyes.

Axel chuckled before sitting up. “We were college roommates and then we became pretty great friends. After, my ex and I, uh broke up, Riku made the suggestion to move in together again.It helped his avoid the costs of having to pay for room and board and I had a place to live,” he explained. “How long have you known him? I know he and Sora were childhood sweethearts.” Axel inquired, thanking the waitress as she set their drinks down in front of them.

“Oh, uh, I’m not entirely sure. I think I met him when I was 10? Maybe 11? My pre-teens are kind of a blocked memory. I just remember Sora being really excited that we were practically brothers.” Roxas shifted as he sipped on his soda.

Biting his lip, Axel looked at Roxas. “Practically brothers? What does that mean?” He asked as a small chuckle followed.

Roxas looked uncomfortable and Axel internally kicked himself. First date etiquette; don’t ask such personal questions. “Do you like Moogle fries?” Axel asked, skimming through the menu to try to change the subject.

“Of course.” Roxas replied, nodding his head. If there was one thing in the entire world he liked, it was food.

“Oh cool, me too. Do you want to split them? I can order a full plate.” Axel suggested as he continued to skim through the menu.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Roxas agreed keeping his eyes on his menu. He could feel his face flushing with heat every time he and Axel met eyes. He cursed those damn emerald green eyes.

“So, What are your hobbies?” Axel asked, putting down his menu once he knew what he wanted to order.

“Oh, um, you know the usual, video games, reading, learning to play guitar, tormenting my cousin. What about yourself?” he asked, hesitantly putting his menu away as well.

“Pretty much the same, minus the tormenting my cousin bit and learning guitar. I’m more of a drums person, myself.” Axel chuckled before he continued. “What consoles do you have? I have an old Super NES that I restored when I was in high school.” he started unbuttoning his sleeves to roll them up, feeling rather hot from his previous rush to get to the restaurant, but also partly because of his date. Those beautiful blue eyes made him super self-conscious and he would be damned if he got food all over his shirt. He already felt terrible for being so late. He couldn’t afford to _also_ make a fool of himself on top of everything else

As Axel explained, Roxas happened to eye Axel’s wrist, and his eyes went wide when they landed on a tattoo that wrapped around it. The word “Victorious” was scrawled in beautiful lettering.

“Victorious? Are you a ‘Panic!’ Fan?” Roxas looked up at Axel for a moment, his gaze falling back down to the tattoo.

Axel was surprised that Roxas seemed so intrigued. “Yeah, my band opened for them a few years back. We all decided to get our favorite songs tattooed, since ‘Panic!’ was one of the bands that got us into music to begin with. What about you?” he asked.

“Dude, Yes! They’re my favorite band! Got me through a lot when I was younger. I have their logo right here.” He pointed to the underside of his arm. “I’ll have to show it to ya sometime. It’s probably one of my favorite tattoos.” Roxas explained.

The waiter made his rounds back to Axel and Roxas, taking their order and promising to have the Moogle fries out as soon as possible.

Both men gave him their gratitude before their attentions swung back to each other.

“What’s your favorite song?” Axel asked leaning forward a little bit, resting his hands on the table.

“ _Far Too Young to Die_. Also _Nicotine_. Those two songs are probably their best songs.” Roxas answered.

“No way. Have you heard _Death of a Bachelor_? Those falsettos are in ranges my friend Marluxia dreams of hitting one day.” Axel countered a smile on his face.

“Okay, I can’t argue with that one,” Roxas laughed. “You mentioned being in a band. What’s it called?” Roxas asked, stretching out his legs a little. He had been so cramped against the seat, he hadn’t realized how uncomfortable he truly was.

"13 Hearts." Axel stretched out a little, relaxing.  
  
Roxas felt something brush against his leg and flushed and flinched a little with the realization that it was probably Axel's long limbs. He shook that thought from his head and focused back on the conversation, “Oh! Riku and Sora dragged me to one of their shows a few weeks ago. I had an assignment and they had an extra ticket. You guys were really good.”

Axel chuckled as he watched his date flush, he stored that away for later. “Assignment?” he questioned.

“Yeah, I’m taking advanced guitar to add some election credits for my Zoology degree. My Professor wanted us to attend a concert of our choosing and write about the experience. I think he’s living vicariously through us.” he replied with a laugh. Axel smiled widely in return.

The waitress brought the fries to their tables, asking if there were any refill requests and Axel asked for another glass of wine and some ranch for their fries. Returning his attention to Roxas he asked, “What was your favorite song?”

Roxas looked up from lazily picking at the fries. “Assassins? I think is what it was called. It was like the third or fourth song you guys played.”

“Ah. Yeah, that’s a new song of ours. I’m glad you like it. I actually wrote that one by myself.” Axel hid his smile behind his glass of wine. Not only did Roxas like his band’s music, but he liked _his song;_ the one Axel spent almost three weeks perfecting.

As the night progressed, nervousness was washed away by jokes, laughter and the pure joy of being in someone else’s company.

“Stop it!” Roxas laughed, moving his fork around trying pry Axel’s hand away from his fries. “You have your own!” He finally jabbed in the side of Axel’s hands gently.

Axel laughed moving his hand away. “There’s no way you’re gonna eat all of that!” He laughed again.

The blond’s eyes narrowed in a playful challenge before he leaned forward. “You’re probably right, but still.” He huffed jokingly.

Their banter continued, as Axel’s legs brushed against Roxas, albeit on purpose, just to watch the blond’s face flush.

Their check was placed down on the table and before Roxas got the chance to read it, Axel snatched it and set his card inside.

“What no!” Roxas said trying to grab the bill out of Axel’s hands, leaning back and pouted as the waiter returned to grab the card.

Axel chuckled and shook his head. “You can pay for our next date.” He signed the receipt once his card was returned to him and grabbed out his wallet and threw a $20 on the table, making sure to secure it with the salt shaker.

Roxas's face grew red and his pout deepened as Axel continued their game of footsies. He trapped his leg in between his and trailed his foot up his leg. “Who says I want to go on a second date?”

“It’s just a feeling I have.” Axel replied writing down his number. “You can even choose the time and place.” He slid the napkin towards the blond.

Pocketing the napkin, Roxas blushed and smirked. “You got a deal.”


	2. First Kiss

Roxas could barely keep his focus on his homework, his textbook propped against his legs. His mind couldn’t help but think back to his previous dates and just how understanding Axel had been about his boundaries.

During their second date, Roxas got the courage to tell Axel about Vanitas. He hadn’t gotten too in-depth about their relationship, just that he ended it after being hospitalized. His heart broke a little when he had seen how upset Axel had been upon learning about this. 

It was during that date that he discovered Axel’s love for sea salt ice cream. Roxas himself had never tried it before, but he definitely saw the appeal when he tried it for the first time. He also really liked the look of Axel’s tongue darting to lick at drops of ice cream that had started to melt away. He also remembered how badly his cheeks flushed with heat. 

Roxas made sure to make a mental note to always have sea salt ice cream popsicles stocked at his apartment. 

A buzzing from his phone pulled him back to reality. He dug it out of his pocket and opened the message. 

“Festival of Lights is tonight, wanna go? Riku and Sora invited us.” the text message read. 

Biting his lip, Roxas thought it over for a moment. Did he really want to spend his evening with Axel, while Sora and Riku were close behind? 

“Can we ditch them?” was his response. 

About a moment had passed when his phone buzzed again. 

“Duh. Don’t need them impeding on our romantic night together ;)” 

Roxas rolled his eyes but that didn’t stop the blush on his cheeks.

“Cool. What time should we meet? What’s the dress code? D:.”

“Hm. Riku says about 6? Just a few hours before Night settles in and we can visit some of the vendors. Casual, but a light jacket? It’s supposed to be cold.”

“Sounds good to me. I could ditch the jacket and you could keep me warm ;)”

“I could think of a few ways I could do that. :p.”

Roxas looked at the time on his phone. 4:30. He had some time to maybe put a little dent in his homework before he need to get ready. 

As time grew closer, Roxas got up and started getting ready, trying to decide what he wanted to wear.

Casual was something he was usually good at, but with how his and Axel’s relationship was developing, he wanted to at least impress him, while still being comfy.

Finally settling on a pair of jeans, a plain tee and his favorite hoodie, back with checkered sleeves, Roxas gathered his things and hopped into the shower.

Meanwhile, Axel was in a similar, but deeper dilemma. 

“Why are you so nervous?” Riku questioned as he sat up on Axel’s bed, leaning back on his hands.

Peaking out of the bathroom with his vibrant red hair wrapped in a towel, he glared at Riku. “You know why,” he replied. 

“No, I don’t. Are you gonna kiss him or something?” Riku teased.

A travel-sized bottle of shampoo came flying from the room and Riku groaned as it made contact with his head.

“Fine. But this is like what – your fifth date? There’s nothing to be nervous about. He’s gonna say yes.” Riku stated. 

Axel emerged from the bathroom, a burgundy sweater on his torso and a gray knitted scarf wrapped around his neck. His hair was brushed back and a gray beanie was atop his head.

“It’s still nerve wracking. He’s so cute and sweet. Plus, he told me about Vanitas so I imagine relationships are hard after something like that.” Axel ran his hands down his shirt to make it flatten out. 

Riku nodded knowingly. Sora had informed him of the controlling, abusive relationship Roxas had been in with Vanitas. It had gotten so bad that Vanitas threw drugs into the mix and Roxas was hospitalized due to an overdose.

“What happened between Roxas and Vanitas was three years ago. You guys met, two months ago and have gone on how many dates now? You know he talks about you all the time. I think he’s willing to try, for you. You shouldn’t give up now because he has a dark past.” Riku looked at his best friend. 

Axel shrugged. “I’m not giving up. I haven’t even asked him yet. I’m just nervous. 4 years in an abusive relationship can really take its toll on someone and he may not feel comfortable or want to be tied down in another relationship.”

Riku watched him. He went to say something, but his phone interrupted any thoughts he may have had. “Sora and Roxas are heading to the festival. You about ready?” He asked the redhead. 

“Yeah, let's head out.”

The car ride to the fairgrounds was a quiet one, aside from the random music that was being played on the radio. 

Riku drove and Axel scrolled through his phone looking at various social media as well as texting Roxas, letting him know they would be there soon. 

Once they arrived and the car was parked, Axel jumped out and stretched; looking around for a familiar head of blond hair. 

“Where did he say they’d be?” Riku inquired looking through his text messages. 

“Uh.” Axel hummed, grabbing his phone to provide an answer.

“Ur ass looks amazing in those jeans.”

Looking around, Axel’s eyebrows furrowed when he was unable to locate his date.

Before he got the chance to respond, arms wrapped around his waist from behind and he recognized the black and white bands that wrapped around two of the fingers. 

Turning around, Axel pulled Roxas into a hug before attacking his sides, tickling him. 

Roxas smacked Axel’s hands away as fits of giggles and squeals escaped his mouth. “Stop it!” He drawled with a playful pout, finally grabbing onto the redhead’s hands and interlacing their fingers. 

Biting his lip, Axel felt the sudden urge to lean down and kiss him, as sapphire blue eyes met his.

“Can you guys get a room? You’re giving me a stomachache from how cute you're being.” Riku joked, still looking for his own boyfriend. 

“This is petty revenge for having to listen to you and Sora through the walls all these years.” Roxas teased right back. He tugged on Axel’s hands before dropping one and leading them off further into the festival, the smells of churros and hot cakes filling the air.

Since it wasn’t going to be dark for at least two more hours, children ran around freely, despite their parents best efforts. 

Squeals of children could be heard as they chased each and occasionally an irritated, yet tired mother would try make them stop. 

Roxas pointed to the Giant Ferris Wheel. “I went on one with Sora and he puked when we got to the top. I think I almost peed myself from laughing so hard.” 

Axel smiled as they looked around the vendors, stopping by ones that piqued their interests. There were vendors that sold specialized soap, mood rings, some had games to win prizes and more.

“Ax, look.” Roxas grabbed his attention and pointed to a booth that looked to have a goofy dart game. Balloons lined the back and each person got three darts.

If they could pop three balloons, they got a prize. Axel looked over at the booth and instantly knew why Roxas was so intrigued. There was a giant stuffed white tiger that hung from the top.

Biting his lip, Axel dragged Roxas along to the booth and took out some money to play the game. The gentleman that was hosting the game handed him 3 darts in exchange for his money. 

Taking aim, Axel threw a dart at one of the balloons and smirked when it popped. He heard Roxas clapping next to him, as he prepared to aim for another balloon. 

Another pop was barely heard over the rustling of the festival-goers. 

“Alright sir, just one more.” The vendor grinned at Axel, as the redhead took aim at the final balloon.

Pop! The sound was drowned out much like the previous ones. 

“Yes!” Roxas threw his hands in the air. 

“Which one would you like sir?” The vendor asked, motioning to all the stuffed animals. 

“The white tiger, please.” Axel requested, pointing to the one that had first caught his eye. 

The vendor nodded and stood on a ladder to get it down for him. He handed it to Roxas, whose blue eyes shined with excitement as he wrapped his arms tightly around the white tiger. 

Axel chuckled as he took Roxas's hand once more and they started heading down the rows of vendors again, stopping at ones that looked mildly interesting and pointing at things their friends and families may enjoy. 

“At this rate, I could probably get my Christmas shopping done right now, if I wanted to.” Axel picked up a soap to see what it was made of and to give it a sniff to see if he liked the smell.

Making a face he set the soap down. He turned to Roxas who was busy on his phone. 

“What’s up?” Axel asked continuing to move down the table finding scents that he liked. He came across one that smelt like sea salt ice cream with hints of vanilla and caramel. He picked 3 up and asked to pay for them.

“Oh, sorry, Sora’s texting me, wants to know if we’re hungry. Personally, I’m starving. What about you?” Roxas asked, pocketing his phone. 

Axel thanked the vendor before taking Roxas hand. He felt his stomach grumble and he shrugged. “I could go for something to eat.” 

Roxas rolled his eyes playfully before texting Sora that he and Axel were hungry and would meet him and Riku by the food trucks.

“What kind of food trucks do they have?” Axel asked, taking Roxas's hand as they walked. 

“Honestly, I don’t know. It varies each year. Last year they had a taco truck, a burger truck, a hotdog place called Doggiestyle.” Roxas elbowed Axel’s arm jokingly, which in turn made Axel roll his eyes before he started tickling Roxas.

Roxas cracked up, smacking Axel’s hands and hitting him with the stuffed tiger. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop,” Axel said. 

Roxas held his stomach as he calmed down. They continued to make their way to the food trucks, pointing out booths they wanted to visit after they ate.

Spotting Sora and Riku, Axel and Roxas walked up to them and waved. “Do you want to put your stuff in the car?” Sora asked as he pointed to the bag and tiger.

Roxas looked down and shrugged. “Yeah, we can make a trip to the car after we eat,” he said. 

“What are you guys in the mood for?” Riku asked as he looked at the different food trucks that were lined up. 

Axel bit back a smirk as he replied. “Doggiestyle sounds good.” 

Roxas let out a fit of giggles that left the other two confused. 

“Well, it’s right down here.” Sora pointed to the hot dog food truck. 

The four men made their way to the decided food truck and stood in line chattering amongst themselves. Axel wrapped his arms around Roxas's waist and buried his face into his hair. Roxas leaned against Axel, smiling contently as the line slowly drudged along.

Once they all got their food, they found a bench to sit at, the four men sat down and ate their food. Sora whipped out his camera and started showing them the things he had taken pictures of. 

“Someone was dressed in those inflatable dinosaur costumes.” Sora laughed showing the picture to Roxas, who in turn, joined him in his laughter.

After dinner, they continued to walk around, stopping at the vendors they wanted to visit and once it started to get dark, they meandered to the grassy area where everyone would release the lanterns.

“Here ya are.” Axel said presenting the lantern to Roxas and then holding out several markers.

“What are the markers for?” Roxas asked, taking a blue marker and the lantern. 

“To decorate the lantern. We can find it and take it home.” Axel said with a red marker. He quickly signed his name and drew a couple hearts and little flames around. 

Roxas chuckled as he did the same, drawing music notes, stars and putting a “+” and his name under Axel’s. Once they were content with their handy work, Axel pocketed the markers. 

“When does the ceremony begin?” Roxas asked, looking at his phone. 

“In about two minutes, I believe.” Axel answered, pulling Roxas to his chest. He pressed a kiss to the top of his hair before looking around.

Axel looked around, watching other couples and families prepare their lanterns. Some were posing for pictures while others were snuggled up on blankets in the grass.

Roxas leaned up against Axel’s chest, playing with his hands idly. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and relaxed as he took in Axel’s scent; sea salt and sand wood. The scent calmed his racing heart. 

“We should take a picture.” Roxas stated, moving to pull his phone out of his pocket. Pulling up the camera app, he held up the phone and snapped a photo once he and Axel were ready. 

As he lowered his phone, lanterns started to be released in the sky. 

“You ready?” Axel asked, resting his chin on Roxas shoulder. 

Roxas bit his lip and nodded taking the lantern, igniting the flame and giving the lantern a little momentum and watched as it started floating away. 

“Wow.” was the only thing out of Roxas's mouth as he watched their lantern slowly join the others. 

Axel watched for a moment before turning to kiss Roxas on his cheek. He felt Roxas's hand cup the back of his neck as he leaned into the kiss. Pulling away, Axel took a free hand and pulled Roxas's face to his.

Blue eyes met green eyes and Roxas's brow furrowed in confusion. 

Axel’s breath hitched in his throat as the lights from the lanterns above them reflected off Roxas's eyes making them sparkle.

Shadows danced across his face, enhancing his features and Axel made a mental note to memorize how Roxas's features looked in this lighting; the lights flashing over his blue eyes, showing their depths and the small flecks of silver that swam in his eyes. Running this thumb over Roxas' cheek, Axel leaned down and pressed their mouths together in a soft kiss. 

A soft gasp against Axel’s mouth made him grin and he kissed Roxas again, hoping the younger male would get the hint to kiss back. After a few more moments, Roxas moved his mouth to kiss back and his body shifted so they faced each other. 

Axel’s hands found Roxas's waist and pulled him closer to his body, tilting his head to the side and deepening the kiss. It wasn’t until they saw a flash and the sounds of Riku and Sora whooping and cheering that the pair separate, Roxas buried his face into Axel’s chest, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. 

Axel chuckled and flipped off his friends, who only jeered louder when the saw the gesture.

\----

“Man tonight was a lot of fun.” Roxas said as he fell on Axel’s couch, the white tiger pressed against his chest. 

Axel chuckled as he stood in the kitchen, grabbing out two mugs and putting a kettle of water on the stove. Once the mugs were filled with the packs of hot chocolate and the kettle was heating, Axel removed his sweater and tossed it into his bedroom before returning to the living room to join Roxas on the couch.

“I would have to agree. What are gonna do with the lantern?” he asked pulling Roxas against his chest. 

“I’ll take it. Maybe hang it up in my room or something.” Roxas said, taking Axel’s hand and lacing their fingers together. 

“Sounds good to me.” Axel rested his chin on the top of Roxas's head. They sat in silence and Axel’s mind was racing and his heart was starting to thump with how nervous he was. Why was he so nervous? He kissed Roxas with no issue, why was asking him to be his boyfriend making him feel like his heart was gonna beat out of his chest? 

Rubbing his thumb over the top of Roxas's hand absentmindedly, he jumped when he heard the kettle start to whistle in the kitchen. 

Roxas started to laugh and Axel glared at him playfully. “You must’ve been deep in thought if that scared you.” the blond teased. 

“Yeah.” Axel let out a breathy sigh before getting up to stop the kettle and to make their hot chocolate. “Do you want any milk or marshmallows?” he asked pouring water into the cups and stirring them until the mixture was completely dissolved. 

“Just milk, please.” came Roxas's reply. 

Axel nodded to himself as he poured a little bit of milk to cool off their drinks and mixed them up again. He could just ask him. How hard was it just ask, ‘Wanna be my boyfriend?’ Easy. Or at least it was that easy. 

Walking back into the living room, he set their drinks on the coffee table. Roxas was in the middle of taking his hoodie off. “Here, I’ll hang it up for you.” he said taking the sweater and hanging it on the coat rack behind the door. 

Axel took a seat next to Roxas, grabbing his drink in the process and took a tentative sip. His eyes looked over the tattoos that adorned the younger man's arms. There were two that were readily visible to him, but he knew he had more. 

The first was on his right wrist, a checkered pattern that wrapped around as if it was a permanent bracelet. The other were lyrics that read ‘You never could control me.” which he recognized from one of Panic! At the Disco’s songs. 

Shifting a little, Axel took a sip of his hot chocolate as his mind went to some of the details that Roxas had informed him of regarding his last relationship. He didn’t go into too much detail, but there was an underlying story there. Why else would his ex put him in hospital? Looking at the tattoo, which covered some old scars, Axel’s heart dropped into his stomach. He knew it was too soon to ask him. He didn’t want to scare Roxas away. 

“Ax?” Roxas pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked at Roxas who appeared concerned for a moment before laughed. “What’s gotten you thinking so much? Am I that bad of a kisser?” he asked feigning hurt. 

Coughing, having drank just as Roxas made the joke, Axel sat his drink down and shook his head. “No, you’re a great kisser.” he said pulling the blond into a kiss, smiling against his mouth. 

Roxas kissed him back, a content sigh leaving his mouth. He pulled away after a few more kisses were exchanged and smiled up at Axel. “Seriously though, what’s on your mind?” He asked setting his mug down and leaning against Axel. 

He wanted to ask Roxas to be his boyfriend. But he had to make it special. He needed Roxas to know how badly he wanted to start a relationship with him. 

“What’s your schedule like this week?” Axel asked looking at Roxas.

“Umm,” his eyebrow furrowed as he tried to remember what his schedule was. “I have class until 4 all week, but I’m at the Zoo until 6 tuesdays and Wednesdays. I’m off Friday’s though, why?” 

“Let me cook for you.” Axel said, playing with the hairs on the back of Roxas's neck. 

Roxas looked up at him and a smile spread across his face. “I would love that.” He said excitedly. 

Axel gave him a smile before pressing a kiss to his forehead as they settled into the couch. He grabbed the remote and changed it to a random movie, which they watched until Roxas started to feel like he was going to pass out and decided to head home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is totally based off the scene in Tangled where Rapunzel and Flynn share a lantern. But they don't kiss.  
> A huge thanks goes to cream-pudding, suju and my boyfriend for reading through and editing this chapter for me.  
> I really appreciate it. <3
> 
> Let me know what you think!! Kudos and comments are very much appreciated.


	3. Chocolate Cake and Tongue Piercings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** Mentions of drug abuse, emotional abuse and over dose.  
>  Also lewd stuff.

“Do you know what kind of food Roxas likes?” Axel asked Riku as he stood in the bakery section of the grocery store they were in. 

He had dragged Riku along for his grocery shopping since he hated to go alone. Plus, he needed insight on what Roxas liked and disliked eating without having to ask him outright.

Axel was determined to make their upcoming dinner a wonderfully special meal. In addition, he wanted to make sure their date was so romantic that Roxas had to say ‘yes’ to his question, or was at least more inclined to say yes. 

“He’s always liked Italian food. Especially baked ziti.” Riku said, leaning against the cart.

Axel looked around for the ingredients, picking some things he needed for his lunches at work. “What about wine? What kind of wine does he like?” He asked, picking up a 2017 bottle of Pinot Noir.

Riku looked at the bottle in Axel’s hands. “He doesn’t drink much, so I’m kind of clueless there. You should buy him some Root Beer. He’ll appreciate that more, I think.”

Recalling their first date, Axel vaguely remembered Roxas ordering something non-alcoholic. Setting the bottle of wine back on the shelf he headed down the aisle where the sodas were stocked and picked up a bottle of Root Beer. “Does he have a favorite brand?” He looked to Riku.

Riku shrugged his shoulders. “Usually we just grab him Mug.” He grabbed the bottle of Mug and set it into the basket. He looked over at Axel who was focusing on some other Root Beer choices. “Hey, you’re really nervous about this aren’t you?” he asked, resting his hand on Axel’s shoulder. 

Looking up at Riku, Axel nodded his head, feeling pathetic. “I just want it to be perfect, ya know? I saw his tattoos and I don’t know the full story of what happened, but if his tattoo means anything I don’t want him to think that I’m going to control him. I won’t be like his ex.” 

Riku nodded as he squeezed Axel’s shoulder, saying everything he needed to say in that one action. 

The pair made their way around the store, picking up what they needed as far as groceries were concerned.

“I don’t remember if I told you, but Sora and I got the house,” Riku mentioned quietly as they unloaded Axel’s stuff onto the conveyor belt at the checkout.

Axel knew they had made plans to move in together, once Sora was settled into his job at the bakery, and he knew they had been looking for the perfect place for almost a year. When Riku showed him the house they were planning to buy, he was ecstatic for them. 

“Congratulations! I’m happy for you. Having to pay mortgage without the help of you paying rent and paying utilities in full again is gonna suck, but I’ll manage,” Axel said as he set some stuff on the conveyor belt. 

Riku chuckled before moving some of his stuff to the front of the cart. 

“I’m gonna ask him to marry me on our first night in our new home. I bought the ring last week,” Riku said, eyes on a magazine. 

Axel looked at Riku, shocked at first before happiness washed over him. “Took you long enough. I figured you would’ve asked him at the two-year mark, not the twelve-year mark.” 

“I want you to be my best man.” Riku ignored his comment and looked at Axel. 

The redhead didn’t say anything. He just pulled his best friend into a tight hug, which was confirmation enough for Riku who hugged him back, equally as tight. 

Axel pulled away after a moment and squeezed Riku’s bicep before moving to pay for his things. Once everything had been paid for, they headed out to the car and headed home to unload the groceries. 

\----

Roxas looked at the clothes he had picked out for his date with Axel. Their dinner date was two days away and he wasn’t going to lie, he was nervous. 

“Should I go with the silk black shirt or the white one?” he asked holding the shirts up to Sora who was leaning against the door frame of Roxas’s bedroom. 

Sora looked between the two shirts before making a face. “Did Axel say he wanted you to dress nice?” he asked as he moved to look through Roxas's closet.

“No, but I’m going to his house for dinner so I want to make a good impression,” he said, setting the shirts down. 

Sora nodded. “This isn’t a first date Rox, you can be casual for a dinner date at his house.” He looked around, finding a nice gray plaid over-shirt. “Here, wear this over a black shirt with those skinny jeans you picked out the other day,” he said, handing Roxas the garments. 

Roxas nodded as he took the item of clothing and paired it with the shirt Sora was referring to. He grabbed the jeans and looped them through the bottom of the hanger. “What about shoes?” he asked, turning to face Sora. 

Sora rolled his eyes jokingly and pointed at Roxas's Converse. “Easy,” he said shrugging his shoulders. 

Roxas rolled his eyes at Sora before laughing and setting everything to the side. “I heard you guys got the house. Congratulations.” A beaming smile adorned his face. 

Sora chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that.” He moved to sit on Roxas's bed. 

Roxas looked to his cousin, eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on? You’re not having second thoughts are you?”

Sora shook his head. “No, it just,” he started before sighing. “I’m just worried about you. This will be the first time you’ll be on your own, since...you know...rehab. I know you’ve been doing so well with your sobriety and I understand that the drug abuse was partially your ex’s fault, but I still worry.” 

Chewing on his lip, Roxas nodded. “If it makes you feel any better, I found a one bedroom that’s right behind Axel’s place. I was thinking about moving there when the lease is up in a few months. It’s a great neighborhood, the apartment itself has a high recommendation rate and let’s be real, with Axel living literally a backyard away, I’ll probably be with him most of the time too, whether that’s at my place or his, so I’ll have someone to look after me. Plus, I’m not with Vanitas anymore and as far as I know, Axel doesn’t do drugs, so I won’t be pressured.” He hoped this would reassure his cousin.

Sora nodded but it was obvious he was still having qualms about leaving his cousin behind. “Riku and I discussed having you move in with us. We have the two extra bedrooms,” he offered.

Roxas shook his head and moved his hands in a ‘no way’ motion. “I won’t impose on your life, Sora. Not anymore. This has been your dream, for how long now? I’d hate to crowd you guys. Especially since I’ve been doing that for almost three years.”

Sora sighed and whispered, “You wouldn’t be imposing on us.”

“I know, but you guys have been taking care of me for almost three years now. I’m almost done with my degree, I’m seeing someone who I really like and I hope feels the same about me. Besides I’ve been clean for three years. Would it make you feel better if I got a cat or something?” Roxas teased.

Sora sighed, giving Roxas a sad smile. “I’m really proud of you Rox. You’ve gone through so much shit in your life, yet here you are, living life as if it has no obstacles.” 

Roxas studied Sora for a moment. He grabbed Sora’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You know you’ll always be my best friend, right? You will always be my favorite cousin; favorite person. Axel will never replace you,” he said sincerely. 

Sora looked at Roxas and tackled him into a hug, knocking the wind out of the blond. “Thank you. I... I really needed to hear that,” he whispered before moving away and ruffling Roxas's hair. 

—

The day of their dinner date, Axel had spent most of his morning preparing the ziti. When the ziti was finished he had put it in the fridge to stay fresh before his date arrived. 

He leaned against the counter, twisting his tongue so he could chew on the top ball of the barbel. “Are you going to keep up the facade that you have no piercings?” Riku asked him as he cleaned off his plate and put the dish into the dishwasher. 

“It’s too much of a hassle. At least with my other piercings I can hide them with a shirt, but every time I take this thing out I’m afraid it’s gonna close up.” Axel forced the barbel to sit in between his front teeth. 

Riku scoffed. “You just wanna try it out on Roxas when you guys have sex,” he teased. 

Axel looked at Riku, a smirk forming on his face. “You caught me.” 

“Gross.” Riku pushed Axel’s shoulder playfully. 

“You should get one, I’m sure Sora would appreciate it.” Axel started putting the clean dishes away. 

“Sora appreciates my blow jobs without the body modification.” 

“Now who’s gross?” Axel tossed a towel at a laughing Riku. 

A buzzing sound filled the room and Axel grabbed his phone out of his pocket. “Roxas is heading over right now,” he said responding to the message before pocketing his phone. His heart was racing at the thought of how things were going to go once Roxas got here. Would he say yes when he asked? Or was he just dating Axel for sex and planned to move on once he got what he wanted? 

Riku studied him for a moment before speaking. “You’re overthinking again, Axel. Roxas really likes you. Though, If I were you, I’d get dressed. Flame emoji pajamas and pink bunny slippers don’t really spell out ‘romantic’ if you ask me. I’ll put the Ziti in and I’ll let Roxas in once he gets here.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, man.” Axel nodded pushing himself off the counter and headed down the hall to his bedroom to get dressed. 

\---

After he received a text from Axel stating it was all right for him to come over, he peeked his head into Sora’s room to let him know he was heading out. 

“Oh, I made you guys dessert. Well, sort of. I made dessert for when Riku was coming over so we can discuss our new home, but then I ended up making too much and made a whole other cake,” Sora walked past Roxas into the kitchen and grabbed a cake out of the fridge. “So here, take this with you.” Sora handed him the cake he had made. 

Roxas looked at it and raised an eyebrow at him. The cake itself was just a plain cake with roses made from red icing. Congratulations was scrawled in beautiful handwriting across the cake in white icing. 

“Ooooookay. I’ll be home sometime tomorrow. I’ll text you if anything happens,” Roxas said as he headed towards his car. Placing all of his stuff on the passenger seat, he started towards Axel's.

 

It wouldn’t take him long to get there and he tried to keep his focus on the road, rather than the date he was driving to. Since he and Axel started dating, he couldn’t get the redhead out of his head. After their date at the festival of lights, Roxas wondered when it would be okay for them to consider themselves in a relationship. 

_Relationship._ That was a notion he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Did Axel want to be in a relationship with him? 

He surely hoped he did. 

Once he arrived at Axel’s apartment, Roxas parked behind Axel’s dark purple Hyundai Accent, grabbed his backpack and the cake, then headed to the front door. With his free hand he rang the doorbell. 

Moments later, the door opened and Roxas was face to face with Riku, an unusual smirk playing at his lips. Roxas didn’t like what that meant. 

“What?” he asked, face flushing feeling embarrassed under Riku’s stare. 

“You and Axel are so cute. Come on in, make yourself at home.” he said opening the door wide for him. 

Roxas mentally cursed Riku as he walked into the house, adjusting the strap on his shoulder as he took in his surroundings. The entryway of the house consisted of a miniature hallway that lead to another hallway on the right, and the living room to the left. To the left of the front doorway, almost adjacent to it, was entryway that lead to the kitchen, which then opened up into the dining room and living room.

“Here, let me grab this for you.” Riku took his bag and gently set it on one of the stools that stood under the kitchen island. He made sure it was steady on the surface, not wanting to be responsible for anything breaking. 

“Thanks,” Roxas said softly carrying the cake to the fridge and placing it inside. Smells of parmesan, meat, and cheese sauce filled his nose and made his stomach rumble. “Baked Ziti?” he asked, turning to Riku who was grabbing his keys off the counter. 

Riku grinned before saluting to Roxas. “Have fun, tell Axel that I’ll see him tomorrow,” he said before heading out the door. 

Roxas nodded watching him go before taking a seat at the island and looking through his phone. He sent a quick text to Sora that said ‘made it safely, Riku’s on his way, btw’ and started looking through his various social media. 

“Oh hi,” Axel said walking out as he spotted Roxas. 

Looking up, Roxas grinned, taking in his date’s outfit; a black button-down shirt and black jeans. His feet didn’t have anything on them, but that was okay with Roxas, he had no plans to leave the house until he went home. 

“Hey,” Roxas replied standing up and moving to Axel, who leaned down and gave him a small kiss. Roxas hummed into the kiss and looked back at the kitchen. “So who told you my favorite food was baked Ziti?” he asked, smirking. 

Axel looked guilty rubbing the back of his neck. “I may or may not have confided in Riku since I really wanted to impress you. It should be done soon, I put it in the oven when you texted me,” he said looking at the timer. “Yeah, we have ten minutes, do you want anything to drink?” he asked. 

“Sure, what do you have?” 

“Uh, milk, apple juice, root beer, wine?” Axel listed off the drinks before turning to Roxas. 

“Root beer?” a playful smirk sat on Roxas’ lips before he chuckled. “I’ll take water for now, I’ll save the soda for dinner.”

Axel blushed before moving around the kitchen to grab a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with filtered water from the fridge. He handed the glass to Roxas who took a sip and set the glass on the island softly. 

“Supposedly, Sora made too much cake batter and made an extra cake. Though I’m a little confused as to why it says ‘Congratulations’. Sora is weird sometimes.” Roxas said. 

Axel had gotten his own glass of water and nearly choked when he heard what the cake said. “Wait, you’re serious?” he asked looking over at the cake that stood on the counter. He shook his head and laughed. He was going to kill Sora and Riku.

“Maybe he gave you the wrong cake? I mean, Riku did mention they were going to celebrate buying their new house.” Axel offered as he tried to think of ways to exact his revenge. 

Roxas shrugged before nodding. “Probably, he’d probably lose his head if it wasn’t attached to him,” he said teasingly. 

Axel laughed, shaking his head as the timer for the ziti went off. He grabbed the hot pads from where he had tossed them earlier and pulled their dinner out. He took the ziti to the table, which Roxas noticed had been set with a dark green tablecloth, two matching electric candles, which flickered away giving the feel of real candles. Plates, silverware, and wine glasses were set on the table. 

Axel set the Ziti down and put a basket of garlic bread on the table before motioning for Roxas to take a seat. 

Roxas obliged, pressing a kiss to Axel’s cheek before taking a seat and scooted closer to the table. “This looks and smells amazing, Ax,” he said as Axel moved to the fridge bringing a bowl that consisted of Caesar salad, a bottle of Root Beer, and a bottle of wine to the table. 

“Thanks, I hope it’s good. I’ve never made baked Ziti before,” Axel said as he poured Root Beer into a wine glass for Roxas and then some wine into his own glass. He put the bottles on the counter and took a seat, then he handed the salad over to Roxas so he could start serving himself. 

“Well, if it’s totally awful, at least you tried, which is good enough for me. I’ll just fill up on salad and bread,” he grinned as he handed the bowl back to Axel before moving to the main course. 

He cut out a square of the Ziti and set it on his plate and waited for Axel to serve himself. 

“Are you excited to be living on your own?” Axel asked as they started to eat.

Roxas started on the salad wanting to let the Ziti cool down. “Excited, but nervous too. I haven’t lived out on my own since, well, Vanitas broke up with me.” He felt embarrassed to be even mentioning his ex’s name. 

“I get what you mean, not having Riku around is gonna be weird. He’s already pretty quiet, but it’s the knowledge of there not being an extra body taking up space, ya know?” Axel explained, before blowing on a piece of Ziti to cool it down before taking a bite. 

“Mm, yeah. Sora’s worried about me but I told him I’m gonna stay at that duplex until graduation. Once I graduate I can find somewhere else to live, since I won’t need to be so close to the college anymore.” Roxas shrugged his shoulders.

Axel nodded as they continued to eat. “I do have to agree with Sora’s feelings on the matter though. Are you going to be okay after living with other people for so long?”

“I’m thinking about getting a cat. Sora is more of a dog person, plus he’s allergic to cats, so we just agreed to never have animals when we lived together. But I think a cat would be good. Give me company.” He stabbed a piece of the Ziti and took a bite, letting out a soft groan of approval. “Oh my God, this is _so good._ Please always cook for me.” Roxas laughed after swallowing his bite. 

“Good to know you appreciate my cooking,” Axel said. His nerves started to settle into his stomach as they continued to eat. He needed to ask Roxas, but with every passing second and every flash of his wrist tattoo, Axel chickened out.

Taking up the glass of wine, Axel took a swig of it and let out a breath. It was now or never. “Hey Rox?” 

“Hm?” Roxas looked over at him, after taking another piece of bread.

It was now or never. 

“These past two months have been a _lot_ of fun and this is starting to feel really cliché.” Axel paused and laughed. “I was wondering if you would like to be my boyfriend?”

Roxas’ heart raced as things started falling into place. The nice dinner at home and the cake with “congratulations” written in white frosting were huge clues that Roxas had wanted to ignore because it was too good to be true. Axel wanted _him_ to be his boyfriend? 

Looking at Axel, who looked terrified of what his answer would be, Roxas couldn’t fight down the smile that formed. “Yes. I would _love_ to be your boyfriend.”

Axel couldn’t help the grin either and nodded. “Cool,” was his response which made them both laugh. 

After dinner was eaten, leftovers were packed away into the fridge, dishes were cleaned up and placed into the dishwasher, the now-boyfriends were on the couch, eating the cake that Sora had _accidentally_ made.

Once the pieces of cake were taken care of, Axel pulled Roxas onto his lap. Roxas allowed his arms to rest on the back of the couch, as they exchanged lazy kisses, enjoying the taste of each other mixed with chocolate icing.

Axel was the first to start deepening the kiss, tilting his head, wrapping his arms around Roxas’ waist, pulling his boyfriend’s body closer to his. 

Wrapping his arms around Axel’s neck, Roxas kissed back, pushing his tongue against Axel’s lips and into his mouth. He rubbed against Axel and gasped as his tongue met something warm and metallic. He could feel Axel smirk against his mouth and he pulled away. “You have your tongue pierced?” Roxas asked, his blue eyes wide.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Axel nodded tentatively before sticking his tongue out to show Roxas who looked at the barbel. It was nothing special as Axel didn’t like anything extravagant that could take away from his face, but Roxas’ intent focus on it made him feel a little self conscious all the same. 

“Why, when? Did it hurt? Do you have more?” Roxas asked, eyes trailing down Axel’s body.

Axel chuckled. “I got it done shortly after I got my degree. It was kind of like a ‘fuck you’ to my ex who didn’t like that I wanted to express myself. My tattoos on my face hurt a lot more than piercing my tongue did.” He paused, a sly smirk playing on his lips. “To be fair, I have more that you haven’t seen yet.”

Roxas's eyes went wide. “Where?”

Leaning forward, Axel bit his lip before releasing it. “You’ll have to wait and see.” 

Roxas groaned moving so he was straddling Axel’s hips. “That’s not fair.” he whined, running his hands through the hair at the base of Axel’s neck, making the older male shiver. 

“What’s not fair?” Axel raised an eyebrow, rubbing circles into Roxas’ hips with his thumbs. 

“Don’t give me a sneak peek if you’re not going to follow through with the rest.” Roxas leaned forward, blue eyes never faltering from green ones. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Axel said closing the gap between them and kissing him hungrily. 

Roxas returned the kiss, gripping Axel’s hair and pulling his head back so he could control the kiss. A surprised gasp escaped from the redhead’s mouth and Roxas took advantage to take dominance of the kiss, biting and licking at Axel’s lips before licking into his mouth. Tasting the metal, mixed with Axel’s natural taste and chocolate cake, Roxas let out a stuttered breath. 

Axel’s hands were pressed against Roxas’ mid back before trailing down, playing with the hem of Roxas’ boxers that peeked just above the waist of his jeans. 

Roxas hummed, grabbing Axel’s hand, interlacing their fingers, and sighed as he pulled away. 

“Roxas.” Axel sighed softly, an ounce of playful frustration in his voice.

“Axel.” Roxas mimicked the tone which caused Axel to growl and press a hungry kiss to his jaw and started to trail kisses down his neck. 

“Before this can go any further I need to be honest with you about my past.” Roxas sighed, leaning back a little on Axel’s lap and ran a hand through his blond locks. 

Axel leaned back taking in Roxas’ serious expression. He started to rub circles into his hips again, hoping to be encouraging as he waited for his boyfriend to start speaking again. 

“When Vanitas and I dated, he controlled a lot of aspects of my life. He would dictate what I was allowed to wear, who I was allowed to spend my time with when I wasn’t with him, and even decided what classes I took each semester. It’s part of the reason I’m just now getting my degree when I should’ve had it two years ago.” Roxas voice started to strain as he reached into one of the pockets of the flannel he was wearing. 

Inside was the piece of baby blanket his mother had bought for him before he was born. It was one of the only things he had left from when his parents were still alive. It was something familiar; a piece of a memory of a mom who soothed him when he cried after falling off his bike. The steadily rising panic in his chest started to settle as he fondled the fabric 

“Two years ago?” Axel asked, confused. 

Roxas nodded before continuing.“Let me explain, my therapist told me that I hold onto my relationships with people almost as if they’re like a lifeboat because of my loss of my parents when I was ten. So, because Vanitas meant so much to me I was willing to do anything he asked of me. I was like a puppy, wanting to be good for its owner, eager to please and get scratches behind my ear.” His eyes wandered a little, trying to focus on something that wasn’t his boyfriend’s face.

“I wanted to save my first time because I wanted it to be special. None of that purity pledge garbage, just...I wanted to have some control over my life that was practically being controlled by someone else. I wanted to, at least, have control over the one thing that I decided to give someone.” 

“So, one night I came home from class, after having a shitty day, only to find my day was going to get shittier. I caught Vanitas cheating on me and several days later, because I was so eager to please him and was afraid of losing Vanitas, I ended up sleeping with him.” 

Axel looked at him confused, hands resting on Roxas's hip. 

Roxas let out an amused sigh. “Bear with me, there’s a point to mentioning this, I promise.” He moved a little to get comfortable. “A few weeks had passed and Vanitas had convinced me to start snorting coke before we’d have sex. He claimed it would enhance our experience. So, because I was, and let’s be real, still to this day, very eager to please, I agreed.” he chuckled, the low rumble sounded almost self-deprecating. 

“And Vanitas was right, it did enhance our experience but I didn’t like the aftermath of how it made me feel, so I didn’t want to do it anymore. When I told Vanitas, it was as if it went in one ear and out the other. He never listened and it escalated to the point where I got addicted. He would switch it up some nights and we’d shoot up heroin. At this point how I felt after the high wore off didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to make Vanitas happy.” His sighed heavily, hating how embarrassed he felt from admitting all of this. 

“It was shortly after our five-year mark that Vanitas ended things with me, saying he didn’t love me anymore, and then I snapped. He told me to move out and in a sort of petty revenge, I...I took what he had left over; heroin, coke and I think there was weed too, but I don’t remember. I do remember waking up in the hospital because I had overdosed.” Roxas bit his lip, trying to will the tears that had started to form, to go away. He looked to Axel waiting for him to say or do something. 

Roxas's heart started to race as they sat in silence. He clenched his jaw trying to control his breathing. Having an attack now wouldn’t do him any good. ”Say something?” He bit his lip and played with the piece of baby-blanket he carried around with him in his pocket. 

He rubbed his thumb over the worn, soft fleece and the feel of the burnt edges reminded him why the piece never left him. It was similar to those thunder shirts people bought for their dogs that were too skittish to handle loud noises like thunder and fireworks. Feeling the piece of blanket wrapped a sense of security around his heart and allowed him to fight off the anxiety that would try to strike. 

Axel shifted underneath him. He wore a look on his face that Roxas could only explain as unreadable and cold.

Roxas's heart sank as he made to move away from him. Things were going so well, why did he have to go and dump all this information on to his boyfriend? They hadn’t even been boyfriends for that long, how was this okay? Axel was bound to break up with him, there was no way he’d want to date someone who had gone to rehab. 

Axel was probably trying to think of ways to let him down softly without hurting his fragile feelings. After all, who would want to date an ex-drug abuser? 

He felt hands grab on to his waist keeping him plastered to Axel’s lap. 

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to leave. I’m just trying to process everything. That is a lot to just drop on someone’s lap.” Axel explained taking the hand that wasn’t preoccupied with the blanket and lifted it so he could kiss his knuckles gently.

A few moments of silence passed before Axel started to speak again. “So you’re sober?”

Concern was washed over with confusion as Roxas processed the question being asked. “Yeah, I’ve been clean for almost three years now.” he said. 

Axel nodded. “Congratulations, by the way. When is your anniversary? We’ll go out and celebrate.”

“Well, it’s the first of July, but going out and partying kind of defeats the purpose of staying sober for so long.” Roxas frowned. 

“Oh no, I meant we could get dinner. Maybe get some ice cream. Celebrate that you’re sober and that you haven’t relapsed. I-I would never intentionally do anything that could unravel the hard work you’ve done.” he promised. 

“Right, sorry,” he apologized. 

“This is just as new for you as it is me. Don’t apologize. But, I do have to ask and I hate to be that guy who thinks with his cock, but are you clean?” Axel asked, biting his lip, afraid to offend Roxas. 

Realization washed over Roxas's face and he nodded. “Yeah, when I was in rehab they required that I be tested every two weeks since heroin users used whatever needles they could get their hands on. The clinic wanted to make sure I hadn’t contracted anything during my abuse, plus they wanted to make sure I wasn’t using in general. I didn’t have anything that needed to be treated while I was going through withdrawals. They eventually let up on how often I needed to be tested and after the one-year mark of being sober they decided they didn’t need me to be tested more than once a year unless I started sleeping with someone. Which, now that I think about it, is kind of hard to do when you’re in rehab, since it’s family visitation only.” he rambled. 

Axel stayed quiet, his eyes searching Roxas’ face. He was so surprised that Roxas was so open about this. Most of his friends who had gone through treatment for their addictions never talked about it. Granted they also went back to using too. “That’s actually really smart, I didn’t know they required testing.”

Roxas hummed in response before continuing. “Yeah, out of habit, I get tested once a month. Some STI’s lay dormant before they rear their ugly head. Here, I just got tested a week ago, since I thought, maybe we would’ve hooked up at the festival.” His face flushed as he moved off Axel’s lap and headed into the kitchen to get his backpack. He dug through his things until he found the results and walked back, reclaiming his place on Axel’s lap. 

Handing them to Axel he watched his boyfriend read over the results: All negative (in a good way).

“Rox, I didn’t need you to show me this, I believe you. I guess, thanks though, for the reassurance? ” Axel stated, puzzled. 

“It’s a reminder of my sobriety. Plus, the whole dormant STI thing. I, uh just really enjoy knowing that what he did to me; that the situation that I allowed myself to get into, didn’t have any lasting consequences.” Roxas explained, shrugging his shoulders.

“Is it odd that I wanna say I’m really proud of you?” Axel asked, which in turn made Roxas blush. 

“No, it’s nice to hear it, especially after recovery. It’s nice to be reminded that I’m doing well.” Roxas said resting his arms on the redhead’s shoulders. 

Axel looked at the paper again before looking up at Roxas. He folded the paper back up and handed it to him. “I was terrified of balloon animals growing up, since ya know, we’re sharing deep dark secrets from our past.” he offered

Stopping, a laugh erupted from Roxas’ mouth, leaning forward and resting his forehead against Axel’s shoulder. “That is the best thing I have heard in such a long time.” Once he was done laughing, he shoved the piece of paper into his back pocket and refocused his attention on Axel, cupping his face and running a thumb over his tattoos. 

Axel leaned into the touch before pulling Roxas closer and gave him a small kiss. “You wanna watch a movie? Maybe calm down a little?” he asked as he turned and pressed a kiss to Roxas’ palm. 

Roxas blushed and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good to me.” he said before he started to move Axel’s lap and snuggled into his side. 

Axel grabbed the PlayStation 4 controller and turned it on. As he waited for the console to boot up, he played with Roxas’ hair with his free hand. He pressed a kiss to his temple before focused on finding the right streaming app.

“So we have Netflix and Hulu. What do you want to watch?” Axel asked.

“Uh, let’s go with Netflix. They have better movie choices in my opinion.” Roxas answered.

Nodding, Axel chose Netflix and waited for the app to load. Once it was, they started looking through the options, trying to decide on what to watch. 

“Oh Friends is good!” Roxas said as Axel passed over the summary. 

Axel chuckled as he scrolled back and selected the show Roxas was so enthusiastic about. 

“I’m gonna grab some more cake.” Roxas decided, getting up before Axel could start the show.

He chuckled as he watched Roxas. “Would you mind getting me a piece too please?”

A “yes!” was excitedly called out and soon Roxas returned with two plates of the chocolatey goodness. He handed one to Axel before getting settling back into the couch.

Axel brought up his right leg and thanked Roxas for the plate. He picked up the controller and started the first episode.

It was halfway through the first season when Roxas paused the episode (the one with the dozen lasagnas) and ran to the bathroom.

Axel chuckled watching him before grabbing his phone out as he looked through his social media. Scrolling through tumblr, his focus wasn’t there, but on the blond who had agreed to be his boyfriend earlier that evening. 

He sighed, changing through his apps trying to find something to occupy his time while he waited for Roxas to return. 

Roxas. His boyfriend. The guy he had been seeing for a little over two months now, who happened to throw a whole lot of baggage on to his lap, earlier that evening. Not that he was complaining. He’d rather know now, rather than farther down the line. 

Running a hand through his hair, Axel sighed leaning his head against the back of the couch. All he wanted to do was make out with Roxas and maybe, just maybe do other things to him too.

A few moments passed, a couple funny cat videos liked and Roxas came walking down the hallway. 

“Sorry about that. You okay? ” He asked as he climbed back on the couch, wrapping his arm around Axel’s waist. 

“Yeah, was just bored out of my mind. I can only handle so many cat videos until my brain melts.” Axel chucked, grabbing Roxas’ hand and pulling him onto his lap. 

“Oh. Hi.” Roxas said, a lilt to his voice as he got settled in Axel’s lap. He rested his hands on his boyfriend’s chest, chewing his lip. 

“Hey.” Axel leaned up and pressed his lips against Roxas, in a soft kiss. 

Sighing into his mouth, Roxas kissed back, hands snaking around Axel’s neck as soft smacks filled the quiet room.

Arms wrapped around Roxas’ waist as Axel deepened the kiss, tilting his head to the side and licked into Roxas’ mouth. 

Roxas opened his mouth a little wider, a breathy moan left the back of his throat when their tongues met and the taste of metal filled his mouth; a taste he was already absolutely in love with. His hands wandered up Axel’s chest and around his neck, pulling their bodies closer. 

 

Axel moved down his boyfriend’s neck, kissing and biting random parts of his skin, never staying in one spot for too long. A hiss filled the air when he started to palm Roxas's erection through his jeans.

“If just making out has gotten you this worked up, I wonder what a blow job would do,” Axel teased, nipping at Roxas's earlobe. 

Roxas's breath hitched, as he started to grind his hips into Axel’s hand, craving the sweet, albeit light, friction it brought. 

“P-please,” he begged, grinding against Axel again trying to make a point. 

“Fuck, how can you be so cute and sexy at the same time? Especially when you beg like that.” Axel purred, sucking on Roxas’s earlobe before turning and pushing him down against the couch. 

Pressing their mouths together, Axel licked into Roxas’s mouth as he continued to palm him through his jeans. Axel growled as he felt Roxas’s erection building and stiffening considerably. “I can’t wait to see you,” he murmured against Roxas’s lips. 

He quickly unbuttoned Roxas’s blue jeans and pulled them down along with his boxers. His eyes trailed down Roxas’s body, stopping at his erection and he bit his lip. He moved forward, capturing Roxas’s mouth into a kiss as his hands teased over the head, fingers barely brushing against the tip. 

Moving down his neck, Axel kissed and bit the skin until he found a spot that made Roxas grip the back of his neck and let out short high-pitched gasps. Axel made sure to pay extra attention on that spot, just under his jaw where it met his neck and sucked and bit until the skin there started to bruise. 

Once he was satisfied with the mark he made, Axel started to trail kisses down Roxas’ torso, with one hand cupping his sack, the other was gently massaging and teasing his cock, slowly moving his palm over the tip, eliciting gasps and moans from his boyfriend. 

Axel kissed Roxas's thighs, licking where he kissed before giving the spot a bite, relishing in hearing Roxas's moan. He kissed up his thigh, biting in random places only to press a kiss to where skin started to bruise.

Grasping Roxas's cock, Axel licked the shaft from the base to the head, flicking the head of his tongue piercing against the slit, before taking the head into his mouth. 

Roxas relaxed into the couch, pleasure rushing through his body as he felt Axel’s tongue swirl around the head of his cock. He reached down and gripped Axel’s hair, fighting the urge to buck up into his mouth. 

Getting the hint, Axel started to bob his head slowly, pressing his tongue to the underside of Roxas’s shaft, which helped him guide his mouth along Roxas's length. A groan left the blond’s mouth when he ran his tongue along the crown of his head. 

“Fu-ck, Axel.” Roxas moaned, bucking his hips, forcing his cock further into Axel’s mouth. 

Axel stilled, relaxing his jaw and allowed his mouth to be fucked. He looked up at Roxas, taking in how he looked as wave after wave of pleasure washed over him. Axel gripped Roxas’ hips and forced the man’s ass back down against the couch, as he slid his lips back up to the cock’s head, swirling and flicking his tongue into the slit again. He swallowed Roxas's cock until the head hit the back of his throat and then pulled off with a heavy breath.

Roxas whined, his own chest rising and falling with each breath he took. 

“Bedroom?” Axel asked, smirking as he palmed at Roxas’s erection slowly and softly. Little, soft moans left Roxas's mouth as he grabbed Axel’s wrist. “Y-yes pl-ease.” 

Axel nodded and stood up only to be pulled down into a feverish kiss. Sloppy kisses were exchanged as Roxas's hands worked on Axel’s shirt, pulling it out of the waistband of his jeans and hands slipped under to feel smooth skin. 

Leaning down, Axel picked up Roxas with ease, their mouths never parting. Roxas wrapped his legs around Axel’s waist as he was carried to the back bedroom. He moved down Axel’s chest, unbuttoning the silky shirt as he slowly laid kisses on pale skin; appreciating its softness and loving the sound of Axel’s small, gasping ‘fucks’ when he dug his teeth into Axel’s skin. He gave a rough suck on the base of his neck where it curved into his shoulder, pressing a kiss as an apology for the hickey that was starting to form. 

Once the shirt was unbuttoned enough, Roxas frantically pushed it off Axel’s shoulders, pressing kisses to his neck and trailing down to his collarbone. His hands grazed over Axel’s chest and pulled away when they pressed against metal bars that caused Axel to hiss in pleasure. 

“Tongue piercing and nipple piercings, really?” Roxas teased, brushing over the nubs gently with his fingertips, which sent shocks of pleasure through Axel’s body. Leaning down, Roxas licked at one nipple, sucking gently and grazing his teeth over it before moving to the other side and repeating the process. 

Axel bit back a loud moan, his head tilting back as Roxas started kissing back up his chest to his neck, biting a sucking, leaving bruises in his wake. He kissed him back and Roxas licked at his lips, sliding his tongue into his mouth before pulling away.

“It was either that or a double apadravya.” Axel said as he dropped Roxas on the bed and moving to his nightstand to find lube and condoms. 

“Double apad-- Oh my god.” Roxas sounded horrified and Axel just chuckled as he attached their mouths again, working on pushing Roxas’s dark blue ripped jeans down his hips and off his legs. Sucking on Roxas's bottom lip, he slipped his own black jeans and boxers off. 

Roxas unbuttoned the rest of Axel’s shirt and pushed the offensive piece of clothing off his arms. He trailed down his arms, tracing over the orange and red flames that wrapped over his shoulders. He made a mental note to ask Axel what his other tattoos were. Right now, he wanted to see what other piercings he had. 

He leaned back for a moment, licking his lips as his eyes trailed down Axel’s body, eyes landing on the glistening charms on his hips. 

“Fuck, you have your hips pierced? God that is hot.” Roxas exclaimed with surprise, his eyes fixated on the gold framed rubies that adorned his hips.

Axel chuckled, pushing his black jeans and plaid boxers down and off. Roxas’s eyes followed the motion and fell onto Axel’s cock. He bit his lip at the sight of red hairs and length and pre-cum pooling at the slit of his head. 

“Glad you approve. Come on, get comfortable on the bed.” Axel said as he climbed up, opening the bottle of lubricant and slicked his finger. Roxas shuffled backward, making room for Axel to settle in between his legs, where he then pressed a finger against Roxas’s tight entrance. 

Roxas gripped the sheets, bracing himself for the intrusion. One or two fingers weren’t all that bad, but it had been a while since the last time he had been stretched and he knew there would be discomfort. 

Once the digit had been eased in, Roxas relaxed, grabbing Axel’s shoulders, bringing him into a kiss. He moaned as Axel stretched him and added another finger to the mix. 

Their kissing became impatient as Roxas bucked his hips against Axel’s fingers, making it harder for Axel to properly stretch him.“God Axel, just fuck me already,” Roxas whined. 

Axel pressed his hand against Roxas's hip to calm his boyfriend’s thrusts. “No can do, babe, I’d rather you be relaxed completely instead of jumping the gun and risking something getting torn.” Axel pressed a kiss to Roxas's stomach as he started to ease in a third finger. 

Roxas bit his lip and reached down to stroke Axel lazily, eliciting a frustrated groan from the older man. 

“That’s not fair, ” Axel whimpered.

Roxas chuckled with triumphant glee and kept pumping Axel while he was being stretched out.

Once Axel felt that Roxas’s muscles were a little more giving he ripped open a condom and slid it on his cock. He held out one to Roxas as he aligned the head of his penis against Roxas’s entrance. 

“Would you like a condom? I’m not sure if you mind getting messy.” Axel offered.

“I don’t need one, if I get my cum on me, more reason for you to lick me clean.” Roxas said, his voice deep with lust. 

“Fuck.” Axel chuckled as he pressed into Roxas, gasping as tight warmth wrapped around his cock. 

A whimper from Roxas brought Axel’s attention to him and he kissed him softly, taking the hand that wasn’t propping him up to rub Roxas's sides and hips. “What’s wrong?” he asked, kissing Roxas's chin, jaw, and neck. 

“Just uncomfortable. It’s been a while.” Roxas leaned his head back, giving Axel more access to his neck as he shifted. Roxas focused on his breathing, taking deep breaths and releasing them. Discomfort faded into pleasure and a groan left his throat, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He gripped Axel’s bicep and nodded. “Please…” he begged. 

Licking his lips, Axel pulled back slowly before pushing back in, little spurts of pleasure ran through his body. He continued to move slowly until he found a steady rhythm. “Oh fuck, Roxas, you’re so tight,” he breathed out, taking Roxas's hands and pressing them against the mattress. He laced their fingers as he continued to thrust into his boyfriend.

He pressed hot, wet kisses to Roxas’ neck, dragging his teeth against the skin and sucking on spots that hadn’t been marked already. 

Moans of pleasure left Roxas's mouth, as he wrapped his legs around Axel’s waist, angling Axel to thrust into him deeper. When the head of Axel’s cock hit Roxas's prostate, Roxas cried out, but it was cut short as Axel sloppily kissed him.

Picking up his speed, Axel’s thrusts became short and hard as he continued to thrust at that angle. As pleasure wracked through his body, Roxas could feel the familiar feeling of pleasure building up. “Fuck, Axel, ‘m so close.” He moaned and gripped Axel’s shoulders. He bit his lip as his release built deep in the pit of his stomach. 

Axel’s thrusts became harder and more precise as did the hand sliding along Roxas's cock. “Come for me, baby,” he husked, sucking on Roxas’s earlobe.

A loud cry came from Roxas's mouth as he came, warm, sticky cum shooting onto his abdomen. Axel thrusted into him a few more times, Roxas's muscle contracting around his throbbing cock, edging on his own release. A long deep moan left Axel’s mouth as his climax hit him; his hip thrusting into Roxas, as he rode out his climax.

Leaning down and pressing a kiss to Roxas's mouth, Axel pulled out, tied off the used condom, and tossed it in the trash. He grabbed a towel and some wet wipes, and helped clean Roxas off. He wiped his own hand clean before crawling onto his bed. Sighing happily, he fell back onto the bed, his body tired, yet still buzzing from his orgasm.

“Holy _fuck._ ” Roxas said, taking a deep breath, tossing the spoiled wipes away. Axel wrapped an arm around his waist and buried his nose into his hair. 

“Mm, same.” He said sleepily, pulling Roxas as close to him as he could. “It’s sleepy time,” he mumbled. 

Roxas chuckled pressing a kiss to Axel’s hand and settled into the bed, falling asleep moments later to the sound of Axel’s soft breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. 
> 
> This took me so long to write. I'm not even sure why it took me so long. It just _did_
> 
> Let me know what you think!!


	4. Impromptu Dates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Mentioned rehab and drug use.

When Axel woke up the next morning, shifting around and hoping to pull a warm body close to his, he was surprised when said body was nowhere to be found. He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes and as his senses came to life, the smell of syrup, bacon and eggs filled the air.

Axel threw the blanket off his body and searched for some clean boxers and pajama bottoms and slipped them on. He headed out into the kitchen to find Roxas busy cooking dinner.

“Wow, sex and breakfast in the morning? I may never want you to leave. Make you my husband.” Axel teased causing Roxas jump, who in turn, clutched his chest and laughed. 

“I would make an amazing husband, thank you.” Roxas beamed, turning off the stove top and bounded over to his boyfriend and took his hand, leading him to the table. 

“You went all out didn’t ya?” Axel noted the syrup, Nutella and strawberries on the table. 

“You made a delicious dinner last night, I just wanted to show you my appreciation.” Roxas shrugged bringing over their plates. Eggs, bacon and pancakes were all piled on and Axel felt his stomach grumble once more.

“Believe me, it is much appreciated.” He said grabbing the leg of Roxas’ pajama bottoms and pulling him closer. Axel pulled Roxas down for a small kiss and smiled. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“You’re welcome.” Roxas sighed kissing him back. Soft smacks filled the air as kisses were exchanged. Axel hooked his fingers into the waistband of Roxas’ pajama bottoms which cause the blonde to pull away a soft chuckle leaving his mouth. 

“Our breakfast is gonna get cold.” He said pressing a kiss to Axel’s nose.

“Can’t you be my breakfast instead?” Axel whined, wrapping his arms around Roxas’ waist. 

Rolling his eyes Roxas laid another kiss to Axel’s mouth before moving out of his arms. He pointed to Axel’s plate and gave him a stern, yet playful look. “Your pancakes are gonna get soggy.” he ran a hand through Axel’s hair affectionately before moving away and taking a seat himself. 

Axel gave him a pout before focusing on his food. He started to munch on a piece of bacon. “What are your plans for today?” He asked.

Roxas busied himself with his pancakes and looked up at Axel. “Hm? Oh, I’m gonna help Sora pack, then do laundry and work on some homework. Maybe even go to the pet store and visit some cute kitties.” He shrugged. “What about yourself?” 

Axel stabbed a pancake and started to cut off a piece. “I have band practice. And that’s about it. My life is boring.” 

“If your life is boring, then what does that say about mine?” Roxas laughed. 

Axel joined in his laughter which eventually lead to a comfortable silence, the only noise being the scraping of silverware on their plates.

Once he was finished with his breakfast, Roxas started to clean up, putting the condiments away where he found them and placing the dirty dishes in the sink. 

“Ya know you don’t have to do the dishes, I can clean up since you made breakfast.” Axel said, standing behind Roxas, wrapping his arms around the blondes waist.

Shrugging, Roxas placed the clean plate on the dish rack leaned against his boyfriend. “I know, but I’m the one who made the mess.” He closed his eyes and sighed happily. 

“You keep this up and I will actually want to make you my housewife. I’ll be so lazy and won’t ever get up again.” Axel joked, burying his face into Roxas’ neck, placing kisses on the his skin there.

“Mmm, as nice as that sounds, I’m afraid I’d grow bored and stir crazy.” Roxas murmured, leaning his head to the side, giving Axel more access to press kisses wherever he liked.

Roxas’ eyes fluttered close and a gasp fell from his mouth as Axel sucked at the base of his neck. 

“I marked you up pretty good last night didn’t I?” Axel gently kissed a spot that was bruised before moving away. 

“Yeah, at least it’s in a spot that can be hidden from the wrath that is Sora and Riku.” Roxas turned to face Axel. 

“Unfortunately I can’t say the same for you.” Roxas’ eyes landed on his neck which was peppered in hickies. 

Axel shrugged. “If anything my friends will give me shit and start asking about you. I think I can handle them. I’m gonna hop in the shower. Wanna join me?” He held out his hand out to Roxas, who took it and nodded, bottom lip tucked under his teeth as they made their way into the bathroom.

—-

After the shower and they got dressed (with a few makeout sessions on the bed, in the closet and on the couch), Roxas and Axel said their goodbyes before Roxas returned home. Axel already missed Roxas, if he was being honest with himself. 

He busied himself with cleaning the rest of the dishes he pried Roxas from earlier and set them in the dishwasher before he had to leave to get to Demyx’s house for practice.

Once the dishes were piled in the dishwasher and leftovers were packed away in the fridge, Axel headed into the bedroom to make sure his hair wasn’t too frazzled from the make out session he and Roxas had earlier and inspected his neck, dark bruises were peppered across the base, trailing down to his collarbones.

Chuckling, Axel needed to make sure to mention to Roxas not to leave any hickies where they were visible. Or at least where they weren’t so dark he couldn’t use makeup to cover it.

A scarf should be just the right remedy to cover the hickies and any attention that could be drawn to his neck.

Heading into his bedroom, he opened the group chat labeled 13 Hearts and sent a quick, “be there soon, still getting ready.”

Pocketing his phone, he felt the phone buzz in succession, knowing his friends were probably giving him grief for being “fashionably late.”

“If you only knew, guys, if you only knew.” Axel said to himself, adjusting the scarf around his neck and trying to cover the hickies the best that he could. Once he was satisfied, he grabbed his book bag that he left on the counter and headed out to his car, locking the door behind himself.

Axel unlocked his car and climbed in and headed off to band practice.

Demyx’s house was in the middle of nowhere; a nice perk for their band as there were no neighbors to complain about the noise. Why a farmhouse, he had no idea. 

Finding where all the other cars were parked, Axel pulled in and parked. Grabbing his things off the passenger seat, he climbed out of the car and headed up to there door.

He rang the doorbell, repositioning the bag on his shoulder. He could hear movement and voices and the distinct sound of Marluxia saying “and he calls me fashionably late.” Which made Axel chuckle in return.

Once the doorknob started to turn, he prepared himself for the onslaught of questions he was sure he was gonna receive.

“Axel!” Demyx cried when he opened the door, a huge smile on his usual beaming face. When his eyes fell upon the scarf around Axel’s neck, they narrowed before brightening up. “Come on in. Took you long enough to get here.”

Axel chuckled at his best friend as he walked into the house, looking at the other band members faces. 

Marluxia and Xigbar were busy talking animatedly about god knows what, but Larxene, their drummer was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Larxene?” Axel questioned as he set his stuff down, turning to look at Demyx. 

“Where’d ya think?” Demyx closed the door and headed into the kitchen. 

“Rehab?” Axel questioned. “ _Seriously Larxene? Again_?” He thought to himself.

A cheerful “yup!” echoed from Demyx and Axel visibly frowned. He knew if he ever wanted Roxas to meet his friends in the future he was gonna have to tell them that their Rock Star lifestyle needed to be private. 

There was no way he was going to expose Roxas to something that could inevitably lead to relapse. 

“Hey Axel, can you come help me for a moment?” Demyx asked from the kitchen, pulling Axel from his thoughts. 

“Coming,” Axel shoved his hands into his pockets, walking into the kitchen nonchalantly, giving Marluxia and Xigbar a shrug as he passed them. 

When he reached the kitchen, Axel noticed that Zexion was in there too, arms crossed against his chest as he leaned against the counter and there was a dark look on Demyx’s face. 

Green eyes widened as he looked at his best friend. “Demyx, what’s goi--.” he was cut off by Demyx ripping the loosely tied scarf that was wrapped around Axel's neck, revealing the deep purple bruises that hid under.

“I knew it! You’ve been in a much better mood these past few months. Especially after last weekend. Who is he?” Demyx demanded, his voice loud and brash. his eyes narrowed as they fixated on one particular dark bruise. “Is it Saix?” He spat. “I swear to God if you’re back with the no good, spineless, thinks-he’s-better-than-everyone snake, I am going to kill the both of you.” the venom was dropping from his voice. 

Axel backed up, putting his hands up in defense, eyes wide. He could hear his other band mates murmuring and the sound of fabric against fabric as they got out of their seats to investigate the commotion in the kitchen. 

Zexion had moved to grab Demyx’s arm, trying to calm his lover. “Dem, you’re not giving him a chance to speak.” He grabbed his shoulders and held Demyx against his chest. 

Demyx’s shoulder relaxed a little, but his eyes were cold as they glared at Axel. They had known each other, for practically their whole lives, having grown up next to each other. Demyx and Axel became inseparable and as they grew older, the bond grew over time. When Riku and Axel became fast friends in college, Demyx welcomed him with open arms. 

Demyx had been there to console Axel when Saix ended things, which he openly admitted to, he was happy about. He never liked Saix; his attitude towards Axel was a massive turn off for him and never liked how controlling he had become over his best friend. Which he gladly told Axel every chance he got. So his feelings at just the sheer thought that Axel had gotten back together with his ex, was justified. 

“Roxas.” Axel finally spoke, his voice barely over a whisper.

His friends whispered among themselves and Axel fought the urge to roll his eyes. 

“ _Hens_ ,” Axel thought.

His friends were fucking hens, clicking away at any juicy gossip they good get their hands on. 

“His name is Roxas. He’s Sora’s cousin.” Axel repeated, reaching to grab the scarf that Zexion was holding out to him. He took it and replaced it around his neck, positioning it so it sat comfortably around his neck. 

Demyx’s whole demeanor changed and his shoulders slumped forward. “Sorry to freak out on you like, I just, we haven’t talked in a while and the last time we didn’t talk, well, things weren’t going so well for you,” he paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought maybe you guys got back together and you were hiding that from me.” 

Axel chuckled and shook his head. “I couldn’t do that to you again, not after the last time he and I broke up and then got back together. I haven’t even spoken to him in three years, that ship has sailed to never return.” He gave Demyx an apologetic smile. 

Demyx returned with his own smile before grasping into Axel’s shoulders and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “So tell us, Roxas, right? Tell us about him!”

Axel looked over at Marluxia and Xigbar both who had had shit eating grins on their faces and he held back his attempt to roll his eyes. “I hate all of you,” he mumbled before straightening his posture as best as he could with Demyx still holding onto him. 

“Like I said, he’s Sora’s cousin. He’s getting his degree in Zoology, loves white tigers, is super fucking cute…” was now a good time to mention the rehab thing? No. He would mention it to Demyx and Zexion after band practice, but he could wait to tell the others.

Axel shrugged as his friends stared at him. 

“That’s all you got? He’s cute and likes white tigers?” Xigbar rolled his eyes. 

“Looks like Axel is finally growing soft after all these years.” Marluxia mused a smirk on his face. God what Axel would give to punch that stupid smirk off his face. 

Sensing the uncomfortable tension that was starting to build between Marluxia and Axel, Zexion moved forward, his eyes turning to them. “Gentlemen, I would suggest practicing. It is why we all agreed to meet here yes? Not to drill Axel about his love life. That can wait till after practice is over.” he gave everyone including Demyx a look before shooing them away with his hands. 

Grumbles were made by everyone, except Demyx who was cheerfully informing them of a gig he had scheduled them and how if Larxene wasn’t back from rehab by then, they’d have someone step in for her. 

\----

Practice usually lasted a few hours, the members of 13 Hearts practicing their songs and jamming away. Sometimes they would talk about new songs they were working on and other times they would just bullshit working on parts of their songs that needed the most work. 

Afterwards, pretty much everyone left minus Axel who was sitting on the couch with Demyx who was curled up next to Zexion, who had one hand running through Demyx’s hair and the other was holding up a book. 

“Roxas is an addict. Well, recovered addict.” Axel said, breaking the silence that had fallen among them. 

Demyx shot up, staring at his best friend and even Zexion who wasn’t interested in the mindless gossip that the two childhood friends discussed, lowered his book and looked at the red-head. 

“What? What was his drug of choice?” Demyx asked, pouting when he received a soft squeeze from Zexion; a wordless reminder that he was being too invasive. 

Axel sipped on his beer absent-mindedly not paying attention to what the couple was doing, his eyes fixated on the blue Sitar that stood by the Television stand. “Heroin and Cocaine.” he replied after several moments passed, taking another sip of his beer. 

Demyx looked at Axel before moving to look at Zexion who gave him a shrug, before moving to face Axel once more. He bit his lip, not sure what else to say to his best friend. 

“Is this, is this like a deal breaker for you?” Demyx asked after several minutes had passed, trying to figure out the best way to really ask that question.

Axel looked at Demyx, his mouth forming into a content smile. It was something Demyx hadn’t seen in a long time.

“No, he and I are in a relationship as of last night, it’s just he is this super sweet, caring kid who got wrapped up with the wrong person. He’s been clean for two years and fuck Dem, we’ve been dating for a few months now, but I can see this becoming something long term. I haven’t wanted anything long term since Saix.” Axel explained, biting his lip.

Demyx nodded and looked at Zexion who was studying Axel. 

“Do you love him?” Zexion spoke. Always right to the point questions.

“I think love is a strong word for how long I’ve known him. Which is a little over two months now,” Axel paused for a second, running his hand over his hair. “But I think I definitely could fall in love with him.”

All three men were sitting quietly in their thought before Zexion spoke up.

“I can’t wait to meet him.” 

Demyx and Axel both turned to look at the dark gray haired man whose attention was focused on the book he was reading, a small smile that was usually reserved for only Demyx when he did something endearing and the rare occasion when Zexion was happy for Axel, like he was now. 

Axel licked his lips and smiled, holding his bottle out to Zexion,

“You will in due time.”

——

A few days had passed since Roxas had spent the night with Axel. He missed him, despite that they were in constant contact with each other via texts. 

“Hey, what time are you off work?” Roxas sent the message to Axel as he packed his books up and shoved them in his backpack. 

He had taken the day of because he had a test in his advanced biology class and expected for it to take longer. So when he finished the test earlier than expected, having studied all night and knew the material fairly well, Roxas thought it was a good idea to surprise Axel to an impromptu date to ice cream. 

Hearing a buzz followed by a loud ding, Roxas dug his phone out and read the message Axel had sent him. 

“I just finished up with my last patient for the day and was gonna head home, everything okay?” 

Roxas chuckled. He always thought it was funny when Axel went into this instant panic, thinking something was wrong. 

“Nothing is wrong, out of class earlier than I expected and took the day off, wanted to see if you wanted to get ice cream with me.” he sent in response. 

Climbing into his car, Roxas got situated, threw his backpack into the backseat and drove off towards downtown Twilight Town. As he was looking for a place to park, he felt his heart drop into his chest when he thought he saw a head of raven black hair. 

He circled around to where he had seen the person and let out a deep sigh when he saw it wasn’t Vanitas. “Thank God.” Roxas mumbled to himself as he found a parking place. Once he found one, he parked his car and clambered out. Shoving his phone in his pocket and locking his car, Roxas made his way to where Axel’s office was at. 

Once he reached the doors to his office, Roxas sent Axel letting him know he had arrived. 

“Kay, be out soon.” was Axel’s reply. 

As he waited, Roxas leaned up against the brick building and scrolled through Tumblr, liking and reblogging random pictures and posts that piqued his interest. 

He looked up when he heard the door open and a grin spread across his face when Axel walked up to him. 

“Hi, this is a nice surprise.” Axel stated, leaning down to give him a kiss. 

“Yeah, I expected my test to take longer than it did, so I figured why not go have some ice cream?” Roxas said, taking Axel’s hand as they started walking down the street. 

Axel chuckled and gave Roxas’ hand a squeeze. “That’s fair, I know a really good ice cream place just down the road. They even have sea salt ice cream.” he said.

The pair walked down the street talking about how their days had been and how Roxas was gonna help Sora pack more of his things when he got home. 

“Ah, I see. You didn’t want to spend time with me, you just wanted to waste time so you’d have less time to help Sora!” Axel jokingly accused. 

Roxas looked at him wide-eyed before playfully jabbing him in his sides, moving his hands around more, the more Axel laugh. 

“Okay, mercy!” Axel cried, hunched over as he tried to regulate his breath. 

“Ax. Look,” Roxas pointed to the building they had stopped in front of. It was a pet store, with a bunch of puppies in the front window. On the window, there was a sign that read Res Q Paws Adoption Clinic! Come find your furry companion today!

“An adoption clinic? You wanna go check it out before we get ice cream?” Axel turned to Roxas who nodded his head. “Please?” He answered.

Axel moved to the front door and held it open for him.

Roxas grinned up at his boyfriend before bouncing into the pet store and made his way to where the cats and kittens were located. He pushed his fingers through the bars, petting at the cats and smiled as their wet noses pressed against his fingers. 

He stopped at a kennel that housed a peach colored Sphinx. The cat was curled up in a blanket in the back of the kennel. It opened its eyes and looked at Roxas for a moment before closing them again slowly. “Oh hi.” Roxas said looking at the paperwork that was attached to the cage. “I’ve been hurt before, please be gentle with me.” 

“Same buddy. Axel, come here.” he turned to his boyfriend and waved him over, wanting to him to see the Sphinx. Axel walked over and looked at the paperwork. “You guys seem perfect for each other.” he said as he watched the Sphinx start to make it’s way over to them. 

Roxas had left his finger out for the cat to sniff and rub his face against him. “He feels weird.” he laughed, running a finger over his nose. The cat leaned into the touch and started to purr. 

When Roxas moved his finger away, the Sphinx reached out with his paw to bring it back to his face. He laughed, rubbing his finger over the soft skin, cooing at the cat. 

“He seems to really like you. With Sora moving out soon, you could get a cat, like I suggested..” Axel stated as he watched Roxas pet the cat. 

Roxas turned and looked at Axel and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve always wanted one, but Sora is allergic,” he looked back at the cat. 

“You do know that these cats are hypoallergenic right? Besides I worry about you being by yourself. I think having a pet to keep you company would be a good idea.” Axel said, wrapping his arm around Roxas’ shoulder and pressed a kiss to his temple. 

Roxas smiled and leaned into the kiss before he pulled away. “I’ll have to save up some before I could adopt one, plus by all the necessary equipment. Maybe my next paycheck. Hopefully this cutie won’t be gone by then.” he said pushing his finger through the square of the kennel once more before moving onto look at the puppies. 

Axel watched him walk away before turning to the cat who was also staring at Roxas, his paw reaching out for the blond who had given him his undivided attention. Sighing, Axel pushed his own finger through the square of the kennel and gave the sphinx a soft rub on the top of his head. “You need a good home sweet boy. And that sweet boy over there,” he pointed to Roxas as he spoke, “Will be the best home you’ll ever have.” he promised as he grabbed a card from the plastic pocket and walked to the front of the store where the adoption clinic was being held. 

“Excuse me ma’am, I was curious about that Sphinx cat over there.” Axel pointed to where he had just been. 

The woman, turned to look at Axel, her big brown eyes following where he had pointed and nodded. “His name is Dobby. What would you like to know about him?” she asked, a friendly smile on her face. 

Axel bit his lip, before handing her the card. “It says he’s been hurt before?” he asked. 

The woman nodded, taking the card and ran her thumb over it for a moment before turning to Axel. “When he was brought here, his back leg was broken, he was scratched up and he was seriously malnourished. We were honestly afraid he was going to lose his back leg. Thankfully the vets were able to save his leg and we were able to get him back to a healthy weight. We did have to remove his teeth, so he is on a special kind of diet. He is a little skittish, but he is super sweet and loves to be cuddled.” she explained. 

Licking his lips, Axel looked back at the cat, smiling when he saw that Roxas had meandered back to the kennel and was playing with the cat. He turned back to the woman and nodded. “I want to adopt him, as a gift to my boyfriend over there. I think they’d be really good for each other. Would it be possible for me to pick him up tomorrow? I want it to be a surprise.” he said.

The woman looked between Axel and Roxas who was busy playing with Dobby, laughing when the cat started to lick his fingers and a smile formed on her face. “I’ll get the adoption paperwork ready for you.” she said standing up and grabbing a clipboard and some papers and handed it to Axel. 

He quickly wrote in the information that was requested; Name, Age, address, phone number, etc. Once everything was finished he quickly signed the paperwork and handed it back to the volunteer. She read it over and nodded, going to put the application in their filing cabinet. “Adoption fee is fifty dollars.” she said and Axel handed over his debit card to make the purchase. 

Once everything was settled away, Axel shook the woman’s hand and thanked her. He put his card away and made his way back to Roxas who was cooing at the cat. “Hey, you ready to go?” he rubbed his finger across the cat’s nose. 

“Yeah, it’s sad. I really want to adopt him. I’ve already decided his name is gonna be Turkey. Dobby is cute and all, but he looks like a Turkey from behind.” Roxas said, his eyes sad as he looked at the cat who was reaching out to him once again with his paw.

“I’m gonna cry, let’s go.” he said with a shaky breath. 

Axel kept quiet and wrapped his arm around Roxas’ shoulders, feeling his boyfriend’s arm wrap around his waist and lean into him. 

He pressed a kiss to Roxas’ hair.

The pair walked out of the pet store and Axel couldn’t help but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So can we all agree that Axel is best boyfriend? 
> 
> I've been toying around with the idea of Roxas getting a cat and then one of my friends mentioned that a Sphinx would be the best cat for Roxas. I agreed. 
> 
> Let me know whatcha think! As always comments and kudos are appreciated!! <3


	5. Welcome to the Jungle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **trigger warning: physical abuse but it’s in a dream, so it’s more memories of physical abuse? Still. It’s there so please be cautious.**

_Roxas stared at the raven-haired man in front of him, eyes brimmed with tears._

_“Van, please! I don’t want to be with you anymore. It’s been over for three years!” He cried, backing away from his ex-boyfriend, his back hitting a wall._

_Vanitas turned his amber eyes to Roxas and laughed, cold and empty._

_“Do you honestly think, that you could ever get away from me?” He sneered, grabbing Roxas by the throat._

_The blond started grabbing on the hand, fighting against his ex-boyfriend and trying his hardest to breath as Vanitas’ grip tightened._

_“P-please! Van, I-I love hi-m.” He stuttered out._

_“Do you now? Do you think your new boyfriend could ever love you back? Knowing how broken you are. Tell me Rox, does he know of your drug habits?” Vanitas scoffed rolling his eyes._

_He leaned forward, gripping Roxas’ neck as hard as he could. “No one, will ever love you.”_

Roxas shot up in bed, his breathing heavy and a sheen of sweat covering his body.

Staring ahead in his dark room, Roxas’ breathing grew heavier as his heartbeat thumped against his chest. 

His hands started to go numb and a lump grew in his chest. “Blanket,” He gasped clambering out of his bed and trying to find his blanket. 

His legs shook as he walked to his jacket and picked it up, searching for the piece of blanket. 

It was the only thing he had left from when his mother and father were still alive. He remembered carrying it everywhere with him after they left, the soft felt being the only thing that comforted him. 

Unfortunately, as fate would have it, Vanitas had gotten a hold of it during a drug-induced rage and set fire to the blanket, the only piece left was the one that Roxas had.

If he really wanted to, he could make it into a tiny pillow and put it on a chain, but Roxas preferred to have the small piece of fabric on his person at all times, in easy access.

A sob ran through his chest as he breathing grew heavier and he could feel his cheeks starting to tingle. His panic attack was only growing with each passing second he couldn’t find the piece of blanket.

“F-fuck!” Roxas cried out in frustration, his hands shaky as he looked for something he could focus on that would help with the panic attack that was starting build up faster, with every passing second.

He looked to his bed and spotted the white tiger plush Axel had returned to him earlier that week. He grabbed it with numb hands, barely able to feel the soft faux fur. 

Laying back down, Roxas held the furry toy to his chest, trying to focus on his breathing. He leaned down and buried his face into the tiger’s fur and took a deep breath, the smell of lavender and vanilla mixed with citrus.

“Deep breaths,” he mumbled to himself, taking deep breaths to regulate his breathing, the smell of his boyfriend filling his senses.

Roxas’ body relaxed into the bed, his face buried into the tiger, his mind focusing on how the tiger smelt and how soft the fur felt on his skin.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as his breathing slowed to a normal pace until he fell into a dreamless sleep, body and mind exhausted.

It was a few hours later when he woke up and he saw Sora laying in his bed with him, looking through his phone. 

“Sora?” Roxas sat up, wiping the drool off his face. Thank God it was just his cousin and not Axel. 

“I heard you whimpering and crying in your sleep. I didn’t have the heart to wake you, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Sora explained setting his phone down. 

“Had a dream about Vanitas, it sent me into a panic attack,” Roxas explained, as he stretched. “I’m fine now though.” He hugged the tiger to his chest.

Sora nodded looking at Roxas, who met his gaze. “I promise.” He said which made Sora nod his head and wordlessly. 

“Hey Sora?” Roxas asked as Sora reached the doorway. 

“Hm?” Sora turned to face Roxas, eyebrows furrowed.

“How did you know you loved Riku?” Roxas asked, his cheeks flushing. He felt like a stupid twelve year old with a middle school crush.

Sora turned and looked at Roxas confused before shrugging his shoulders. “I’m not honestly sure. It was a few months into us dating. If I remember correctly, he and I went to a Halloween party our Senior year of high school. I wanted to dance but was too afraid of looking like a fool. Riku got up and started dancing, albet terribly, he still did it without any care in the world. He did it to show me it didn’t matter what I looked like, so long as I was having fun. I think that’s when I realized I loved him. Why?” he asked. Tilting his head to the side. 

“A few months, huh,” Roxas huffed before running a hand through his hair. “I had a dream, a nightmare really, about Vanitas and when I was trying to convince him that we weren’t together anymore, that I was with Axel, I said that I loved Axel. I wasn’t sure if it was just dream me or if it was real life me. I’ve only known him for almost, three months?. There’s no way I’m already feeling that way about him.” 

Sora leaned up against the doorway and crossed his arms. “You were with Vanitas how long before you realized how you felt?” He asked.

“Two weeks? Plus I was in college and only eighteen.” Roxas tried to justify, crossing his arms. “Besides, my therapist has explained why i was like that with him.”

Sora just chuckled. “You’ll know, when you know Rox. If you feel that it’s too soon to say it, let him say it first. I’ve known Axel a long time. It’s gonna take more than you saying ‘I love you’ to scare him away. But if you are really that scared, just wait till you’re one hundred percent sure or as I said; wait until he says it first.”

Roxas nodded falling back on his bed watching as Sora shuffled out of the doorway and turned down the hall. 

Taking a deep breath, Roxas turned and grabbed his phone off the charger and opened up the messaging app. 

“You awake?” he sent to Axel and set the phone down. It was about 4 in the morning and usually Axel stayed up pretty late into the morning if he didn’t have any patients the next day.

A few minutes passed when a loud buzz filled the quiet room. Roxas excited rose out of bed before reading the message. 

_Axel <3: Baaaaabe. It’s 4 in the mornng, go back 2 sleep.  
Axel <3: *morning_

_Roxas: Can’t, woke up to pee, now can’t sleep._

Another 3 minutes passed before he received a message. 

_Axel <3: That sux._

Roxas chuckled before replying.

_Roxas: S’okay. I’ll let you sleep. I’ll let you sleep, see you at 10?_

_Axel <3: “Mm yes. Goodnight._

_Roxas: Good night Ax!_

\---

Roxas sighed as he looked through his closet trying to find something comfortable to wear for his date to the Zoo. The weather had started to change and all of his hoodies were no longer suitable for the warm weather that had crept upon them. 

The trip to the Zoo was going to be a special one as Roxas had spoken with his boss about feeding some of the animals. Once he was able to convince his boss, he made plans to go with Axel. 

Finally settling on a black tee and a pair of khaki shorts, he quickly got changed, fixing the flyaway hairs that sprung out when he pulled the shirt over his hair. Spraying his hair down with some hairspray, Roxas gave himself a once over before finally deciding he was happy with his appearance. 

Heading out of his bathroom, he grabbed his phone off his bed and sent a quick text to Axel. 

“I’m ready when you are.” he pocketed his phone, grabbing his converse and slipping them on. He made sure he had everything he needed; keys, wallet, chapstick, etc. 

“Hey you heading out?” Sora asked as he walked into kitchen, clad in pajamas. 

Roxas looked up from his phone and nodded. “Yeah, going to the Zoo with Axel. Got any plans later?” he watched his cousin start searching through the cupboards, looking for something to eat. 

“Packing, going to lunch with Riku, then packing some more.” Sora grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and started pouring himself some cereal. 

Roxas nodded, looking down at his phone when he felt it vibrate in his hand. 

“I’m hereeee~” it read. 

“Have fun packing.” Roxas saluted to Sora before heading out to the front door, locking it behind him.

He spotted the purple Accent, parked behind his own car, a deep sea blue Subaru Impreza.

Climbing into the car, Roxas got settled and put on his seatbelt. “Hi.” He turned to Axel and gave him a small wave.

“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into today.” Axel leaned over armrest console to give Roxas a kiss. Returning the sentiment, Roxas grinned when they separated and settled back into the seat. 

“It’ll be fun.” he promised.

As Axel started to drive out of the apartment duplex, Roxas hooked his phone to the Bluetooth and shuffled the playlist he made specifically for this trip.

In his peripheral, he watched as Axel looked at the song that was playing, a small smirk formed on his lips. 

Roxas couldn’t help but mirror it, but he rubbed his lips together to make it seem like he wasn’t just watching his boyfriend. 

“Teenage dream? I haven’t heard that song in a while.” Axel commented, turning the volume up. 

“You think I’m pretty, without any makeup on…”

A huge grin spread across Roxas’ face as he heard Axel sing and soon joined in, dancing as he sang.

Axel’s voice cracked as he started to laugh. 

They sang along to the songs that got shuffled through. 

“What is this your love playlist?” Axel asked, turning down the volume as “All I am” by Jess Glynn started to play.

Roxas blushed, shrugging his shoulders. “I just chose songs that I liked.” He said defensively. 

Axel noted the tone in Roxas voice and reached over and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. “I wasn’t shitting on your music. It was just an observation. If it upset you, I’ll be more considerate about how I ask.” He said quietly.

Roxas gave his hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. 

“No reason to be sorry Rox.” Axel returned the squeeze and let go of his boyfriend’s hand so he could turn into the Zoo parking lot.

“What’s the game plan?” Axel asked as he circled the parking lot for the second time, trying to find a good parking spot.

Roxas pointed at an empty parking spot that was close to the entrance. “Well, I figured we’d walk around, find all the exhibits we want to look at, have lunch, then I have a surprise for you afterwards.” He unbuckled his seat belt once they were parked and got out of the car.

“A surprise huh? Do I get to know my surprise?” Axel walked around the back of his car to stand with Roxas.

Playfully rolling his eyes, Roxas took Axel’s hand as they headed to the gates. “That defeats the purpose of the surprise.” Grabbing out his work ID for the cashier, he slid it over. 

He could feel Axel’s gaze on him and he started to feel, very self-conscious about the surprise he had in store. The cashier handed them their passes. Roxas pocketed one of the passes before turning to his boyfriend, a grin on his face. “Where do you want to go first?” Roxas asked as he gave Axel his pass and headed through the second entrance gates. 

Wrapping his arm around Roxas’ shoulders, pulling him into his body, Axel looked at the giant map that stood in front of him. Green eyes scanned over the map, looking nothing in particular. “Big cats? Maybe I can finally make sense of why you like white tigers so much.” he teased leading the way to where the map showed the big cats were located. 

Roxas jabbed Axel in the side gently as the pair made their way down the trail to the big cats. 

They stopped first at the lions, who were lazing about on big rocks, bellies exposed, soaking in the warmth from the Sun’s rays. 

“When I was younger, before my parents passed away, we had this cat, named Lottie. She would lay in these little patches of sunlight on my floor and my mom used to say Lottie was caught in a sunbeam. The first time I came to the Zoo and saw a lion lay like that, I said the same thing. It’s just a warm spot and they’ll move once they’re warm enough, but I always imagined that my cat was stuck in that one spot and couldn’t get up.” Roxas chuckled. 

Axel looked at Roxas, eyebrows raised. It was the first time Roxas had mentioned his parents since they had dated. He gave his boyfriend’s shoulder a squeeze, not knowing what else to say. 

Roxas bit his lip as he moved from Axel’s side and took his hand, lacing their fingers together. He felt Axel squeeze his hand and he returned the notion, biting back a smile. 

They made their way around the big cats exhibits, watching as the warmer climate cats were more active than those that were more acclimated to colder weather. 

Tigers were busy playing in the makeshift river, splashing around and rolling around while the Cheetahs were chasing each and playing. 

When they reached the snow leopards, Roxas was surprised to see of the cold weather cats out and about. He pointed to one with its tail in it’s mouth. Axel laughed. “Why is it doing that?” he asked watching the snow leopard as it walked around with it’s tail. 

“Ya know, we don’t really know. Scientists believe it’s to keep their warmth closer to their bodies, some believe it’s just something they do when they’re bored.” Roxas shrugged as he leaned against the wood fence. 

“Do you work in this exhibit?” Axel asked mimicking Roxas’ pose and watched as one of the bigger snow leopards started to stalk the one holding its tail. 

Roxas shook his head. “I started here, but I’m in the smaller animal area. Like the red pandas and fennec foxes.” he said pushing himself off the fence turning to Axel. “Where to next?” he asked grabbing the map from his back pocket. 

“Can we actually look at the red pandas?” Axel asked. 

A little surprised, Roxas nodded. “Yeah, follow me.” he said as he headed down the path, making his way to the red panda exhibit. 

The red panda exhibit was tucked away behind a glass wall that had rock borders and bamboo trees that mimicked the red panda's’ natural habitat. A group of huge trees stood in front of a rock face, meant to look like mountains. 

Axel’s face lit up when he spotted a red panda lazing about on one of the thicker branches, munching on a stick of bamboo. “Roxas look. Oh my God, they’re so cute.” he gushed taking his phone taking photos the red pandas that he could find. 

He made his way farther down the path and started taking more pictures. 

Roxas watched as Axel lowered his phone, reading the signs, his face lighting up as he read the facts that were placed there. Taking his own phone, he took a photo of Axel, grinning. He slowly made his way over to Axel who was starting to look for more red pandas. 

“So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and ask if red pandas are your favorite animal?” Roxas asked leaning up against the glass barrier. 

Axel chuckled with a playful shrug. “Yeah, something like that.” he said pocketing his phone. “When I was younger, in the town I grew up in, they had this giant Red panda sanctuary. My parents donated to it every year for my birthday because it’s all I ever talked about; it was a dream come true.” He explained.

Roxas leaned up against Axel, listening to his story. “Have you been there since you moved?” He looked up at his boyfriend. 

Axel shook his head, his eyes fixated on the red pandas. “No, my ex and I were always too busy to make the two hour drive to Radiant Garden. Even after we broke up, being a physical therapist takes up a lot of my time. Maybe when I visit my family for Thanksgiving, I’ll make a trip there. Walk down memory lane, if you will.” He chuckled, wrapping his arms around Roxas.

“I’ll miss you.” Roxas replied sadly, watching as one red panda scared the other and they started to tumble around. 

“Miss me?” Axel questioned.

“I mean, I assume you’ll be going by yourself?” Roxas looked up at Axel, who shook his head.

“Nah, my brother has been telling my parents about you, so they’re looking forward to meet you, ” Axel leaned down and rested his chin on Roxas’ head. “That is if you’d like to come with me.” 

“Of course,” Roxas replied with a bright smile.

After the red pandas exhibit, Roxas and Axel made their way around the Zoo stopping at different exhibits that peaked their interests before deciding to find someplace to eat.

Settling on the Rainforest Cafe, they were settled at one of the corner booth, which gave them some privacy, Roxas grabbed out his wallet and slid the pass to Axel. 

Axel raised an eyebrow at him before grabbing it and looked at it. “A guest pass?” he looked up at Roxas. 

“I asked my boss if I could take you into the room behind the exhibits so I can show you what I do. It’s why I asked if red panda’s were your favorite animal because we’re going to hang out with a couple.” he said biting his lip.

Axel leaned back against the seat, stretching his legs and looked at the guest pass. “Seriously Roxas, this is amazing, I can’t wait!” he said pocketing the pass. 

Roxas grinned as the waitress came over and took their drink orders; Axel ordered a Pepsi, while Roxas ordered a Root Beer.

It was quiet other than the murmur of other patrons at the restaurant as they looked through their menus. Roxas wasn’t really all that hungry so he settled on a chicken salad. Axel chose a bacon cheeseburger with fries. 

“I went to adopt that Sphynx from that adoption center, but it looks like someone else beat me to it.” Roxas said as he fiddled with the straw wrapper. 

“Oh?” Axel asked as the waitress placed their drinks in front of them. He hoped the lady whom he had spoke with hadn’t told Roxas that Axel had adopted him. 

“Yeah, I guess someone came in and adopted him for their significant other. I hope whoever they are takes good care of him. He was so sweet. I was gonna name him Turkey.” Roxas pouted as he picked up his drink and took a sip. 

Axel gave him a sympathetic smile as he tried to ignore the excitement that rushed through his body, knowing the cat was probably sleeping on his bed. Reaching over the table, he took Roxas’ hand and tangled their fingers together, running his thumb over the skin of his hand, in a soothing notion. “I’m sorry babe, I promise another sweet cat will come around.” he promised, kissing Roxas’ fingers. 

Roxas blushed, covering his face with his menu. “Stop it.” he said with a shy laugh.

Axel pulled his hand up and pressed another kiss along his fingers, making the blush on Roxas’ cheek turn to a scarlet color. 

Their waitress returned to take their orders and once she had what they wanted, she walked away. 

Roxas sipped on his root beer studying Axel. “So when is your bands next gig?” He asked taking to folding his straw wrapper.

“Hm? Oh, we’re performing at that one Goth Bar, what is called? The Pumpkin Head? Yeah, we’re performing there. Marluxia knows the owner and they always request that we perform there at least once a month.” Axel explained as he looked through the dessert menu. 

“Nice.” Roxas said softly as he pushed away the anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach. Vanitas used to frequent that bar and if he wanted to keep his state of mind at peace, he would have to skip out on attending this gig.

Axel noticed Roxas’ reluctancy but decided against asking him. “I’ll get you a copy of our schedule so you can attend one of our other shows.” He promised.

They discussed upcoming shows and the out of town physical therapy session he had planned in a month. 

“When I’m there I’ll ask her if I can bring you next time. She’s super sweet and loves having company. She has improved so much since I first started working with her too.” Axel explained as he doodles on the paper placemat in front of him.

“I’m excited to meet her. She sounds great. You said her name was Xion?” Roxas asked, doodling on his own paper placemat.

Children, the both of them.

Axel hummed in response as the waitress stopped by and placed their meals on the table and whisked away their glasses so she could provide them with refills.

They both thanked the waitress, before they started to eat. In between bites, playful banter and light conversation was had; mainly about visiting the red pandas.

Once they were both finished; Axel had requested a box for the remainder of his burger, Roxas paid for their meal after much argument from Axel and they made their way back to the Zoo.

“It’s right through here.” Roxas said sliding his badge through the scanner. 

“Make sure to make your pass visible.” He turned to Axel and noticed the pass was clipped to his shirt. 

Axel raised an eyebrow with a smirk playing on his face. Roxas sighed, giving him an apologetic smile before leading the way. He waved to his co-workers as they passed and lead Axel into the room where they were housing the baby red pandas. 

There were three of them and they were all chasing each other and playing. 

“They’re about 4 months old. We usually wait until they’re 6 months old to let them out into the exhibit. We feed them twice a day; once in the morning and once at night. I get to feed them in the morning which is a fun experience,” Roxas pointed to a little hand sanitizer dispenser. “We sanitize our hands before interacting since the red pandas could carry something, as can humans that can transfer over, so we like to be on the safe side.”

Axel nodded pressing the dispense lever and started rubbing hand sanitizer over his hands. “I’m nervous, what if they don’t like me?” He asked jokingly. 

Roxas shook his head, punching in his log in code and opening the door, following Axel into the big room.

A majority of the red panda cubs were too busy chasing each other and playing to care that Axel and Roxas were in the room. There was a smaller red panda, most likely what would be considered the ‘runt’ came running to them, pawing at Axel’s leg. 

He squatted down and watched as the small red panda rolled around. “Are we allowed to touch them?” he asked looking up at Roxas. 

Roxas nodded as he reached down and pet one of the red pandas that started pawing at his shoelace. “We also have apple slices for them if you wanted to hand feed them.” he said sitting down on the floor and letting Flora, one of the bigger red pandas climb into his lap. 

Axel nodded, as he sat down as well, letting the smallest red panda crawl into his lap and up his chest. “Oh.” he laughed running a slow and gentle hand over it’s fur. the fur on the top of the red panda’s head was soft, but as Axel moved his hand down its back, the fur grew more course; like a horse’s tail. 

“Oh my God, they’re even softer than I expected.” he laughed some more as the red panda crawled up onto his shoulder. 

Carefully grabbing the red panda, Axel set it in his lap. “Do they all have names?” he asked. 

Roxas nodded. “Yeah, the one I have is Flora, that one Hans,” he pointed to a panda that was busy playing with a ball in the back corner. “The one you’re holding is uh...Akuseru.” his cheeks flushed as he ran a hand over Flora’s back. 

Axel looked at Roxas confused as to why he was so embarrassed. Roxas refused to meet his eyes and looked down at the red panda that was in his lap. 

“Akuseru is Axel in Japanese.” he whispered. 

Axel’s mouth dropped and before he could stop himself, he started to laugh. “Roxas, you so fucking cute.” he said picking up the red panda. “Akuseru.” he said another chuckle building in the back of his throat before he gently placed the red panda back on his lap. 

One of the red pandas scampered across the room, scaring it’s brother and they tumbled around, playing and jumping on each other. “You said something about apple slices?” he asked looking at Roxas. 

“Yeah, lemme go grab them, we usually store them in here, but I think they moved them to the big fridge in the other room.” Roxas got up and headed out, making sure none of the cubs tried to get out. 

Axel watched over the red pandas as they chased each other around the room and played. He brought his knees to his chest and rested his chin on his arms, eyes scanning the room, taking in his surroundings since he was focusing on Roxas. 

Posters about red pandas and other creatures lined the wall. Most of the posters were facts about red pandas. Papers hung above the desk in the corner that recorded the feeding schedule as well as other important things like vet visits and who was watching the cubs during the week. 

Flora came bounding over to Axel, standing on her hind legs and pawing at his arm. He reached over and scratched behind her ear and chuckled. “Hi.” he said grabbing the ball she started to eye and rolled it across the room. The red panda chased after it, flipping over once she got it. 

“Hey, got the apples.” Roxas said as he walked into the room and held the bowl out for Axel. 

Grabbing a few slices, Axel chuckled as the red panda cubs came galloping to him all excited to see that he had apple slices. 

“So I just give them the apple slices whole, or do I snap them in half?” he asked looking up at Roxas. “They can have them whole, I made sure to slice them so they weren’t too thick.” Roxas leaned down and picked up Akuseru and handed him a slice. 

Axel nodded holding out apple slices to the remaining two cubs. He watched as the cubs munched on their treats and felt Roxas sit next to him, the bowl of apples in his hands. Setting it on his lap Roxas leaned over and rested his head on Axel’s shoulders. 

“This is the best date I have been on in a long time. Seriously, I could die happy right now.” Axel rested his head against the top of Roxas’ head as he reached over and grabbed some more apple slices. 

Roxas chuckled and pressed a kiss to Axel’s cheek. “No dying, I’ve grown to kind of like you.” he handed an apple slice to Hans.

Once the apple slices were gone and the red panda cups had curled up in a pile to take a nap, Axel stood up and helped Roxas up to his feet. “You ready to head out?” he asked dusting his clothes off, making sure there were no remaining red panda fur. 

“Yeah.” Roxas grabbed the bowl with hand and grabbed Axel’s hand in the other and lead them out of the room.

Once everything was put back in its place, they headed back to Axel’s Hyundai Accent and started on the journey home.

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Axel asked as he drove them to Roxas’ apartment, music playing at a low volume. 

Roxas was looking out the window, watching the scenery go by. “Studying. Finals is in two weeks and even though I’ve done well in my classes, I’m still nervous. These are the last finals I will ever have to take. My dream is on the line, ya know? Man. I’m so scared that I’m gonna fail.” He sighed. 

Axel reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. “You’re going to do fine. You’re gonna go into that test and its gonna be like second nature. I have no doubt in my mind.” He brought Roxas’ hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles before resting their hands on his thigh. The nervousness didn’t wash away completely, but Roxas did feel more reassured than before.

A comfortable silence fell over them as they drove back to Roxas’ apartment with the only sound being the hushed acoustics of their radio. 

“Seriously Roxas, this was amazing, I really enjoyed myself. I don’t think I can explain how amazing today has been. Seeing red pandas, no, getting to hold and feed apples to red pandas has been the best date I’ve ever had. I can’t even begin to thank you.” Axel leaned down, capturing Roxas’ lips in a kiss, grinning wide when he pulled away. 

Roxas licked his lips before speaking. “I’m glad I could do this for you. We should do this again. There’s an aquarium just outside of Sunset Terrace. It’s beautiful and you can touch a sea cucumber!”

Axel suppressed a laugh and nodded. “Sounds like a date.”

Pulling up behind Roxas’ car, Axel put his own car into park and they both climbed out, doors shut behind them. 

Leaning up against the car, Roxas grinned as he wrapped his arms around Axel’s waist and rested his cheek against his boyfriend’s chest. His heart started to race and he swore he felt warmer than usual when Axel pressed a kiss to his hair, but in a good way. 

No, this feeling was different, it made him feel like he was alive for the first time in a long time.


	6. Falling in Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somewhat explicit content below

It had to be early in the morning, it had to be. Sunlight filtered through the normally dark room, which caused Axel to stir. His bed shook, causing him to groan and sit up, rubbing his eyes.  
“What the hell?” he asked before jumping when his eyes landed on Sora who was kneeling in front of him. 

“Hey Axel!” he said too happily for first thing in the morning. 

Letting his eyes adjust to the change of lighting in his room, Axel looked over at the blinds and glared at Riku who was busy typing away at his phone. That bastard. 

“S’up guys, why are you in my room at…. augh, seven in the morning?” Axel looked at his phone and made a disgruntled face at Sora. Sora beamed at him before moving off the bed and putting his hands on his hips, tossing a not-so-threatening glare at Riku. 

“Riku was _supposed_ to tell you, but we need your help moving furniture.” He explained.

Axel raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that on my day off when I should be packing for trip?” he asked, shifting on the bed and getting comfortable.

Sora rolled his eyes before pointing at Axel’s neck. “As payment letting you hook up with my brother,” he smirked.

It was Axel’s turn to roll his eyes. “I thought you two were cousins?” 

“Semantics. He and I’ve always been close, even before my dad’s adopted him.” Sora shrugged.

Axel nodded slowly patting the blanket down as Turkey meowed before jumping up on the bed. 

Sora squealed. “What is that?!” He scrambled away from the bed and pointed to the Sphinx, who was climbing up on Axel’s chest to stay warm.

“This is Turkey. The cat I adopted for Roxas.” Axel picked the cat up and made him face Sora. Turkey let out a soft chirp, reaching a paw out for Sora.

Sora made a face turning to Riku. “Baaabe, why didn’t you tell me? You know I’m allergic!” He was whining at this point, high pitched tone and pressing himself against the wall by the door, his hand over face to prevent himself from breathing. Riku just laughed as his response.

“Didn’t you notice that you didn’t start sneezing the moment you walked into the apartment like you do when we visit your dad’s?” He tilted his head

Sora looked at Riku before looking at Axel and Turkey. 

“Yeah, so?” He replied.

Axel rolled his eyes. “So, Turkey is a Sphinx, or a nude cat. Meaning his fur doesn’t produce dander because he doesn’t have any. Which means he’s hypoallergenic. You can pet him and be around him without breaking out in hives,” he explained, holding the cat out for Sora.

Timidly, Sora ran a finger over the Sphinx's forehead, emitting a purr from the cat. He made a face before laughing. “He feels weird. Does Roxas know about this?” He asked.

“Yes and no,” Axel replied, letting Turkey back down on the bed. Turkey decided to curl up in his lap instead. “He’s met Turkey, gave him the name and was going to adopt him. He thinks Turkey was adopted by someone else. I plan on taking him over after we’re done doing whatever it is you two are forcing me to do.” Axel narrowed his eyes at Riku and Sora.

Riku shrugged. “C’mon, Sora We’ll start packing some of the smaller stuff into the uHaul while Axel gets dressed.” he took Sora’s hand and dragged him out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind them. 

Axel fell back against his bed, laughing as Turkey crawled up on his chest. “Come on buddy, I gotta get up and get dressed. I’ll have that sweater ready for you tonight, I promise.” He picked up the cat and pressed a kiss to his head before throwing the blankets off his body and getting up off the bed, holding up the blanket for Turkey, who dashed under the blanket to curled up. He headed to the closet and started looking for clothes to wear. 

Settling on basketball shorts and a plain black tee, Axel threw them on before heading into his bathroom to do his hair. He took a brush to get rid of the tangles and worked his hair into a messy of bun of sorts. He grabbed a pair of socks and his shoes before heading out into the living room. 

“There’s donuts if you want one,” Sora called out as he walked down the hall to Riku’s bedroom. 

Looking to the kitchen, Axel slipped his socks and shoes on before heading into the kitchen to get some milk and a donut. Grabbing a donut from the pink box, he looked through his emails, stopping when he found

_Hey Ax,_

_I got the extra bedroom ready for you so you want have to worry about getting a hotel room. Namine is super excited to meet you! She’s been talking about it all week! I’m excited to see you how much I’ve improved since the last time you were here! I may be able to walk without the cane at the wedding! Isn’t that exciting? Anyway, just wanted to let you know you can stay with us if you wanna save on renting a hotel for a weekend. Can’t wait to see you!!_

_XO -Xion._

He sent a quick response back, explaining he wouldn’t mind staying at a hotel, but gladly accepted their kind invitation. Really, it was the polite thing to do. 

Once he’d eaten breakfast, rinsed his dishes and put everything into the dishwasher, he headed out of the kitchen in search of Riku and Sora. “Hey guys? I’m ready to start moving stuff into the truck.” He called down the hallway towards Riku’s bedroom. When he got no response, he peeked into the guest bathroom to see if they were in there, then checked the guest room/office. No sign of them. He sighed, then headed towards Riku’s room. 

“Hey guys, I’m ready to st-- Oh my _God_! Do you guys have to do this right now?” Axel asked covering his eyes. 

Sora had Riku pushed up against the wall, hands under his boyfriend’s shirt and mouth on his neck. Riku chuckled as he pressed a kiss to Sora’s forehead. “I told you he was a fast eater.” 

Sora just buried his face into Riku’s chest, bright red cheeks still visible from where Axel was standing. Axel put his hands up and walked backwards out of the room. 

“I’m gonna grab the boxes in the kitchen. Whatever you guys were gonna do here, finish it up,” Axel teased. He turned around and headed down the hall towards the kitchen. He grabbed a couple of boxes and headed outside to start loading them into the UHaul. 

It took him a few trips, but he got all the boxes squared away in the back of the small truck. Taking a breather, Axel grabbedhis phone and sent a quick text to Roxas. 

_walked in on Riku and Sora making out. I definitely won’t miss that. But I definitely miss you. Dinner later?_

Pocketing his phone, Axel headed back inside to find Sora and Riku carrying parts of Riku’s bed. “‘Bout damn time you guys started helping out.” he crossed his arms and smirked playfully. 

Sora stuck his tongue out at Axel and Riku just laughed as they made their way out the door. Once they returned empty handed, the three of them hauled the mattress and box spring out of the house and packed them away into the back of the truck. 

“I think we have enough things packed for the first trip. You guys ready?” Riku asked as he closed the door. Once he received confirmation from both Axel and Sora, he ran inside to grab the keys, returning only moments later. 

“I’m gonna take my own car, I’ll follow you there.” Axel waved to them before climbing in his Hyundai Accent. 

The drive to the house wasn’t a long one. Axel would guess it took them about fifteen minutes to get there. As he parked behind the uHaul, he got out of his car and stared, taking it all in. 

The house itself was covered in brick, with two small steps leading up to a smaller patio, just big enough that Riku and Sora could put a small table on it if they wanted to. The front door was just to the right on an adjacent wall.

“We’re going to carry everything in through the garage since it’s wider, Riku explained as he lifted the UHaul’s rolling door. He climbed inside, choosing a stack of boxes to take inside. “Especially the couch. We’ll carry it in through the back door since that door leads to the kitchen and is closer to the living room.”

Axel followed suit and started grabbing boxes. He walked through the garage and into the house. 

As Riku said, the door in the garage lead to the kitchen, which had what looked to be a dining room area to the left and the actual kitchen to the right. Straight ahead, there was opening which lead to the living room and the hallway. He assumed the hallway lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms. 

“How many rooms is this?” he asked. He turned to find Sora busying himself with stacking boxes in the living room. 

“Three,” Sora replied with a cheery smile “We’re gonna make one of the extra rooms into a guest bedroom and the other into an office. Maybe one day the office will be a kid’s room. We haven’t decided yet,” he explained. 

Axel nodded as he set the stuff down on the counter. “You guys will figure it out,” he said giving Sora a grin before he left to help Riku with the rest of the stuff. 

With the three of them working quickly, the Uhaul was soon unpacked. Sora stayed behind to start sorting through boxes while Axel and Riku returned to what would soon be just Axel’s house. They worked together to pile in the next load of Riku’s belongings before making their way back to Sora and the new house where they repeated the process of unloading and sorting boxes. . When all the boxes were packed up into the back and ready to go, the pair made their way back to Sora and their new house. 

It was after the fourth trip that Sora started to complain about being hungry. 

“Yeah, I’m starved, “ Axel agreed.” Plus is the last of the boxes you had ready, right?” Axel asked pointing to the pile of boxes they made in the living room. 

Riku shrugged. “We can call it a day and get something to eat. Where do you guys wanna go?” he asked, grabbing the keys off the counter. 

“Oh, what’s the name of that cafe just a couple of blocks down? Papou Stars?” Sora suggested. 

Axel shrugged, having no clue what they were talking about. He just wanted to get food and go home before he went to visit Roxas. 

“I’m down for whatever you guys decide. So long as there’s food,” he said leaning against the counter.

They decided to give the cafe a try and piled into the car after locking up. The drive to the cafe was a short one and since they'd managed to beat the lunch rush, they got a table in no time.

“With me moving out of the apartment, I’m a little worried about Roxas,” Sora said as they all looked through their menus, trying to figure what they wanted for lunch. 

“How so?” Axel asked, grabbing his drink and taking a sip. 

Sora shrugged, looking up from his menu to meet Axel’s eye. “He hasn’t been on his own since he was in rehab and I’m afraid something is going to happen. I’ve told him this too and he doesn’t seem to be too worried about it, but that doesn’t change that I am actually nervous about him living on his own. What if something happens? What if he has a panic attack he can’t come down from?” he asked, his blue eyes wide with fear. 

They were all quiet for a moment before Axel spoke up. “I plan on asking him to move in with me once his lease is up,” he said casually, taking another sip of his drink. 

Sora looked over at Riku who mirrored his expression of surprise. “When did you decide this?” Riku asked. 

Axel looked over at his friends, shrugging. “Awhile ago. I mean, he’s already planning on applying at those apartments behind my house. If he moves in with me, he’ll have less to worry about. He’ll already have graduated, he won’t have to pay for rent anymore because I can cover the mortgage here. He can just focus on his job, help me around the house or whatever.” 

Sora’s mouth dropped as he watched Axel picked up his menu as if he hadn’t just dropped the biggest bombshell of the century. Okay, it wasn’t that big, but Sora had a flair for the dramatics and always liked to make a bigger deal out of things. He turned to look at Riku who was also studying his menu, but made a quick glance at Sora, their eyes meeting for a moment. He shrugged his shoulders before continuing to look at his own menu. 

It was quiet among the three of them before Sora cleared his throat and started to speak. “If you hurt him, even by accident, your balls are good as gone.” he threatened. 

Axel looked up from his menu again and nodded. “I’m aware.” 

Sora was interrupted from saying anymore as the waitress came over to take their orders. No one brought up Roxas moving in with Axel, though, and it wasn’t long before their food was placed in front of them. They ate quietly, occasionally making small talk, most of which was questions about Axel’s upcoming trip to Traverse Town. 

When their meals were finished and the bill was paid, Axel dropped Sora and Riku off at their new house before heading home to get ready to visit Roxas. 

\---

Lazing about the couch, Roxas flipped through channels on the television, looking for something entertaining. He felt so bored and restless lately; it had been almost two weeks since he’d last seen Axel. Between helping Sora and Riku move and the pressing need to study for his fast-approaching finals,, there’d been very little time they got to spend with each other. 

Sure, texts were exchanged, calls were made and Axel did try and stop by on his way home from work to at least make sure Roxas was eating, but even then, Axel dropped off the food, gave him a kiss and left. He missed him, missed hanging out and watching movies or eating together or just hanging out, doing nothing. It was weird to think about how much better Axel made his life, and it made Axel’s absence all the more upsetting. Axel made his life interesting; life without him was too quiet.

He had the tv on low, and with Sora gone, the house felt even more empty. He’d gotten used to the quiet, though, which made the ringing doorbell seem ten times louder than it needed to be. 

Roxas jumped in his seat at the noise, then he chuckled at himself for his idiocy. He pressed a hand to his heart as he stood up to answer the door, expecting it to be Sora. 

He opened the door and was confused to see Axel standing there with a cat carrier and a bag of cat related items.  
“Um Ax?” he asked moving out of the way to let his boyfriend into the house. 

“Hey Babe,” Axel replied as he set everything down. pulled Roxas into a small kiss before grinning. “I would’ve brought him over sooner but I had to talk to Sora first because of his allergies. He didn’t know that Sphinx are hypoallergenic! Once I told him he was completely on board.”

Roxas raised his eyebrow. “What?” he deadpanned. 

Axel snapped his fingers.“Oh. Right.” He went to the cat carrier and opened it, allowing the peach colored Sphynx to slowly meander out of the carrier. 

Watching Axel, Roxas’ eyes widened upon seeing the cat that he had bonded a few weeks before. “Turkey? You adopted Turkey? When? How? Why? Wait, _you’re_ the guy who adopted him?” he asked, excitement filling his voice as he sat on the floor and motioned for the cat to make it’s way over to him. 

Turkey trotted over to Roxas and flipped over showing off his belly before rubbing his face and body against Roxas’ knee and chirping when he saw something outside the window.

“Like I said, I worry about you,” Axel admitted. “Especially when you’re by yourself. Sora told me about the anxiety attack you had the other night and I felt like maybe you could use a companion for the nights that I can’t be here.” Axel rubbed the back of his neck. 

Biting his lip, Roxas looked up at Axel, then stood. Turkey went off to wander around the house and get used to his new surroundings. Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel’s torso in a hug and buried his face into his chest. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you so much.” 

Axel grinned and returned the hug, burying his face into Roxas’ hair. “Yeah of course.” he said softly, enjoying having Roxas in his arms. 

After a few moments, they parted, only for Axel to pull Roxas into a kiss, arms around his shoulders gently. He felt Roxas grin into the kiss, his arms wrapping around Axel’s waist, pulling their bodies closer. Tilting his head to the side to deepen the kiss, Axel slipped his tongue into Roxas’ mouth. He nipped and sucked on Roxas bottom lip, pulling away for a moment only to lean back into kiss Roxas again. 

Before he could initiate another kiss, his eyes darted to Turkey who was watching them from the couch, big, blue alien like eyes staring at him. 

“I can’t make out with you while the cat is staring at me.” He sighed resting his forehead on Roxas’ shoulder.

Roxas turned to see Turkey and laughed squeezing his waist before moving away. “Come on, let’s get Turkey’s litter box and stuff set up.” He said , the walked over to pick up the bag Axel had brought in. 

Axel looked at him for a moment, a smile breaking out over his face. “Yeah, sounds good.”

His felt his heart flutter as a sudden realization dawned on him, so he pulled Roxas into one more soft, adoring kiss. Roxas pulled away after a moment, licking his lip, and it seemed like there was something on the tip of his tongue, but he turned away instead.

Axel watched as his boyfriend started putting the litter box together, talking to Turkey about where to place it once Sora moved out. Just from watching Roxas, Axel could feel the fluttering in his chest growing stronger with each passing moment. 

Roxas looked over at Axel and gave him a sweet smile, which made his heart flutter more and with each passing moment, things were starting to become more and more clear. He strode over to Roxas and pulled him up and into his body, capturing his lips into a loving kiss, one hand on the back of his neck while the other hand pressed against the arch of his back. 

Kissing back, Roxas cupped either side of Axel’s neck. Their kisses were sensual, not sexual, a shared affection that grew with each renewed press of lips. Pulling away, Roxas played with the hair at the nape of Axel’s neck as he looked up at his boyfriend, sapphire blue eyes catching the attention of emerald greens.

“Bedroom?” He asked, darting his tongue out to wet his lips. 

Axel’s eyes followed the movement and he nodded, leaning down and grabbing the back of Roxas’ thighs to pick him up and captured his lips in an affectionate kiss. 

He carried Roxas to his bedroom as soft kisses were exchanged, intimate and almost loving.

Roxas’ hands were in his hair, entangling in in his hair as Axel pressed him against the wall for a moment, deepening the kiss and snaking his tongue into Roxas’ mouth, the bottom of his tongue ring rubbing against his tongue.

They moved away from the wall after a moment, walking into the dark room, making sure to close the door to keep out unwanted visitors. 

Kisses were exchanged as clothes were removed and the two got settled on the bed; Roxas’ hands pinned lightly as Axel placed gentle kisses down his chest, over his stomach before stopping at his hips.

Axel pressed kisses against Roxas’ thighs before taking his cock into his mouth, licking around the tip. He brushed the tip of his barbel against the slit, causing Roxas to pant as he gripped the sheets tight. 

“Please,” he begged, eyes glazed over.

Pulling off, Axel captured Roxas mouth into a kiss, pushing him back against the bed as he reached for the bedside table grabbing out the lube and condoms stored there.

Breaking off the kiss, Axel rolled the condom down his length and proceeded to slather himself with lube. He leaned down and pressed soft kisses to Roxas mouth as he positioned himself before pushing inside.

This time was different than all the other times they had sex. Their movements were slow, hands explored each other’s bodies and instead of fast paced, Axel’s movements were slow, relishing in the feeling of pleasure and making sure his boyfriend felt great. 

They rode out their orgasms, names falling from their mouths and when Axel moved off the bed, he returned with a towel, clean and water, helping Roxas get cleaned off and changed the sheets.

Once everything was cleaned up, Axel wrapped his arm around Roxas and pulled him close, kissing the name of his neck before drifting off.  
———-

Roxas looked at the clock on his phone, sighing at the 2:30 am that flashed against the picture of him and Axel kissing at the Lantern Festival. Turning to snuggle against Axel, he frowned when he realized his boyfriend was no longer in the bed with him. Had he been that tired that he didn’t notice Axel getting up? It had only been about 5 hours since they fell asleep. He grabbed some boxers and a shirt, slipping them on before heading out of his room to follow the quiet music coming from the living room. 

He spotted Turkey curled up on the couch, a blanket laid on top of him, and Axel was in the kitchen...knitting?!

“You’re full of surprises aren’t ya?” Roxas said as he made his way into the kitchen.

Axel looked up at Roxas before looking back down and shrugging. “Yeah, I guess. I hope this fits Turkey. I’ve never tried making sweaters for cats before.” He said holding it up for Roxas to see. The sweater was a light, almost melon green color that faded into a darker forest green, with a silver T knitted into the middle of it.

“It’s cute. We should get him one with a flame with it.” Roxas mused, wrapping his arms around Axel’s waist and resting his face against Axel’s back.

Axel hummed in response as he continued to knit, shifting slightly so he could work around Roxas' arms. A new song came on the radio, the beginning of "I love you, always, forever" starting up.

“I like this song.” Roxas mumbled against Axel’s back as he started to slowly sway to the beat of the song. 

Axel set down the sweater before turning around and capturing Roxas’s hands with his own, and pulling Roxas into a spin so they were facing each other. Then, he started to dance. 

Roxas was caught off guard for a moment, then beamed and started dancing with him, laughter filling the quiet room as Axel made him twirl in one spot. 

Pulling him close Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel’s waist as their dancing slowed to a sway despite the songs upbeat tune. Axel ran his hands through Roxas’ messy blond lock, biting his lip. It was now or never. 

“I love you Roxas.” He let it out in the open, happiness washing over him when Roxas squeezed his waist, and smiled back.

“I love you too, Axel.”


	7. Discourse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warnings:**  
>  Mentioned drug abuse

“I seriously can’t wait for Sora to be completely moved out. It’s going to be so great to not worry about him seeing me without a towel when I think he’s gone, and listening to him and Riku when they decide 2 am is the perfect time to fuck,” Roxas gushed, leaning against the counter. 

Over the past few weeks, Sora and Riku were slowly getting their things packed and moved into their new home and Roxas was counting down the days until they were completely moved in. Not that he didn’t love his cousin, he just loved his privacy more. 

Axel kept half an ear open to murmur 'yeah' or 'right' at all the right places, but he sort of zoned out as Roxas went on about the way Sora did laundry.

Roxas looked over at Axel and laughed. "I can't believe you pour milk into the bowl before you put cereal in-- this is why Riku was so excited to move out,” he laughed gesturing to the bowl. 

“I’m not sure what’s going to be like living on my own,” he admitted. “I haven’t been out on my own since I moved out my freshman year. I mean, what if I forget to pay rent? Or pay my other bills, like water or electricity? What if I forget to buy litter for Turkey or forget to feed him? Sora was always better remembering little things like buying hand soap or laundry pods.” He scratched at the back of his neck. 

“I mean, those concerns would go away when you moved in with me,” Axel said. “Plus it wouldn’t be a hassle to add litter and cat food to the list of things I need to buy when I go grocery shopping.” Axel shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat. 

Roxas’ eyebrow furrowed as he looked over at Axel, arms crossing over his chest. “What do you me--” he started before Axel continued, talking over him. 

“Think about it, you wouldn’t have to pay rent because I own my home and I’m not gonna make my boyfriend pay rent. Utilities would be cut in half, you wouldn’t have to worry about groceries. Hell, we could even put all your stuff in Riku’s old room and you could stay in there for as long as you wanted until you felt comfortable with staying in my bed. We could repaint, since Riku and I never could come to an agreement about what color we wanted the house. We can rearrange things too, so your computer and other big items fit in the office.”

Roxas’ mind was reeling as he watched Axel clean his dishes and place them in the drying rack. He was trying to register what gave Axel the impression that he would agree to move in with him. 

Had Axel already decided this, or maybe this was more of a suggestion? Roxas wasn’t too sure at this point and he was too far down into his own thoughts, heels dug deep into the sand for him to ask for clarification.

All Roxas had to do was say yes or no.  _ Yes, I want to move in with you Axel _ , or  _ no, I need to prove that I can be independent after being dependent on Vanitas and then Sora for so long _ . Instead Roxas blurted out “Why?”

Axel looked at Roxas, eyebrows furrowed as confusion wrote itself across his face. “What do you mean  _ why?”  _ he asked crossing his arms against his chest. 

Roxas huffed, moving from the counter where he was preparing dinner. “I mean, why do you want me to move in with you? Is it because you’re worried that I can’t take care of myself? Is this,” he paused before realization dawned on his face. “Is this the reason you’ve been avoiding going to look at those apartments with me?” The accusation heavily dripped in his tone.  

“Did, did you forget that I work Roxas?” Axel asked, perplexed. “That I’m supposed to be at home right now, getting packed and making sure I have everything I need to go to Radiant Garden for a patient? That I’ve been helping Riku and Sora none stop to get their stuff moved? But instead I’m over here, arguing with you about our future, instead of us hanging out before my trip.” He shook his head before rubbing at his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. 

“You’re not even giving me a chance to explain before putting words in my mouth. This isn’t about me trying to take your independence Roxas, this is me trying to think about our future together. Unless… unless you think we don’t have one?” His hurt tone ripped Roxas’ heart in half, but he was too angry to soften his tone. 

Roxas rolled his eyes, “Now whose putting words in whose mouth?” he asked mimicking Axel’s stance and crossing his arms across his chest. 

“You’re not really giving me a chance to think otherwise, now are you?” Axel snapped before leaving the kitchen. 

“Where are you going?” Roxas asked, still on the defense. 

Axel stopped and turned around. “I’m going to go home and pack. It’s clear that we need some space.” 

Roxas bit his lip, feeling his eyes start to burn, but he quickly rubbed his eyes. He was not going to start crying until after Axel left. “Fine, whatever. Just...go. But let me know when you get to Radiant Garden, please,” he said looking at his shoes. 

Axel stared at him for a minute before giving a short nod. He picked up his jacket and keys, then closed the front door with a sharp click.

Roxas was already crying by the time heard Axel's car drive away.

\---

It was a few hours after Roxas collected himself off the floor. He waited until he’d calmed down, then he texted Sora asking his cousin if he and Riku could come over for dinner. When the arrived, he explained the situation over cartons of Chinese food,telling them how Axel assumed he was going to move in with him, without even asking him. 

“So you and Axel fought because he had made plans for you to move in without actually asking you, and you blew up on him because you want your independence?” Sora asked as he stabbed a piece of orange chicken with his fork. “Do you  _ not _ want to move in with him?”

Roxas sighed and shook his head. "It's not  **that** ," he said, and poked his orange chicken with a chopstick before selecting a piece to pop into his mouth. "I mean, maybe, eventually. I kinda wish he'd asked before assuming, you know? Don't I get any say in this?"

Sora and Riku shared a look before looking back at Roxas. “Rox, Axel told us he was going to ask you. Sora and I are kind of surprised that you didn’t agree.” Riku said, setting his fork down so his focus was one hundred percent on Roxas. 

He knew Roxas was angry and unfortunately, he also knew that when Roxas was like this, it was best for him to have something to target. During the early stages of his sobriety, they discovered that he couldn’t stay mad at Sora. They were cousins;  _ best friends.  _ Even if the anger was justified, Roxas took one look at Sora and his whole demeanor crumbled. 

Roxas stood up from the island and threw his chopsticks down, glaring at Riku. “What do you mean, you guys knew he was gonna ask me?” he asked looking between Sora and Riku. 

Sora bit his lip and looked between Roxas and Riku, not sure if he should speak up or not. 

Riku cooly looked at Roxas, clearly not intimidated by the blonde, before speaking. “A few weeks ago, Axel was helping us move and we were talking about your living situation. He mentioned that he was going to ask you,” he said, and shrugged.    
  
Roxas’ eyes narrowed at Riku. “Why didn’t you mention this to me before?” he raised his voice, pushing his chair away from the island, and starting to pace. 

“Why does everyone think I can’t take responsibility of myself? Do you guys think that I am so immature that I can’t handle things on my own, that I have to rely on my fucking cousin or my fucking boyfriend?” he asked, his voice raising with each word as his anger rose. 

He stopped mid step and glared looking at Sora and Riku who stared at him, waiting for him to finish so they could say their peace and move on from this unfortunate situation. 

“I am so sick and tired of feeling like I can’t be independent; that I will always need someone to take care of me. I feel like you guys are just waiting for me to just fuck up so you can rub it in my face when it happens.” His shoulders relaxed, his eyes falling to the floor.  _ I just want to make you, dad and pa, and Axel proud of me.  _

His expression went from fiery anger to hurt and a little broken as he saw them patiently waiting for him to burn himself out. The fury he'd felt minutes before was gone and suddenly he was just tired. Tired, and hurt. Tears started forming in his eyes and Sora moved away from the island to comfort his cousin but stopped when Roxas started to speak again. 

“Are you guys afraid that I’m going to just shoot up when something like this happens? That I’m too useless to be trusted on my own?” his voice cracked, the dam he had built was a weak one and it broke as his knees buckled under him and for the second time that day, he sobbed on his kitchen floor.

Sora walked up to Roxas and held him, patting his hair and running his hands through his hair and whispering "Hey, no one thinks that." and then have him say "We're not dropping the subject-- let's just finish our dinner and we'll drop it for now, and come back to it later, ok? But this isn't about trusting you." He asked looking at Riku who nodded to show his agreement.

They ate in silence, the only sound being the scrap of utensils against their plates.

“Are you feeling okay to talk about this more?” Sora asked Roxas as he packed away the leftovers. He made sure to leave the orange chicken and chow mein, since it was Roxas’ favorite comfort food. He made sure to sneak Riku’s cookie into Roxas’ sweet drawer. He needed it more than Riku did. 

Roxas shook his head as he brought Turkey to his chest (this week wearing the checkered pattern sweater) who curled up on his chest, licking Roxas’ chin once and nuzzling him to stay warm. Just the feel of Turkey’s weight and the rumble of his purr was enough to remind him everything would be okay. Even if it wasn’t okay right now. 

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call okay?” Sora asked, pulling Roxas into another tight hug once he received confirmation.

Riku stood back, letting them have their space, and waited until he caught Roxas’ eye. “That goes for both of us-- you need something, you just let us know. And…” he sighed, crossing his arms. “And I’m not saying you have to forgive him or even talk to him much, but give Axel a call. Or even a text. Don’t let him leave to Radiant Garden thinking you hate him.” Then Riku and Sora headed home, leaving Roxas to mull over what he said.

  
  


Roxas stood by the front door of his apartment, chewing on his lip and thinking over what Riku said. He was  _ still _ angry with Axel, but he was also upset, and knew that Riku had a point-- he didn’t want Axel to leave thinking that he hated him. Grabbing out his phone, he sent a quick text message to Axel, not expecting an answer back. 

_ Roxas: Hey Ax, I love you. Let me know when you land okay? I miss you. _

It was a few minutes later that Roxas received a text from Axel. 

_ Axel <3: I love you too Roxas. I’m getting ready to board the plane now, take some time to think about my proposal, please. I won’t hate you if you say no.  _

\----

As promised, Axel texted Roxas and let him know he had made it safely to Radiant Garden. In return he received an attachment that was Roxas snuggled up Axel’s bed wearing his favorite hoodie with Turkey curled up on his chest (wearing a purple sweater that Roxas picked up for him at the pet store). The text that followed, was simply  _ ‘ily <3’ _

Axel replied back with a _ ‘that’s my favorite sweater!  <3  _ before pocketing his phone and going back to the task at hand which was dealing with Xion and Namine and their hundreds of questions.

“What’s his name, Beanpole?” Xion asked from across the restaurant table. Once Axel got in and settled (and took a five hour nap because he was exhausted from Roxas and jet lag), Namine and Xion coerced the redhead to join them for dinner. 

His face flushed as he set his phone down and grinned at his cousin and her fiance. “Sorry,” he said ignoring Xion’s question. 

Sharp pain shot up from his shin and he gasped before glaring at Xion. “Ouch, what was that for Pebbles!?” he rubbed at his shin before pouting.    
  
“Who is he?” Xion asked referring to the phone. 

“You have been in this weird mood lately, one moment you look really happy and then two seconds later, you’re looking depressed and look like you’re going to cry, what’s going on? You and Saix haven’t gotten back together have you?” Namine asked as she sipped on her wine. 

Axel rolled his eyes at the mention of his ex. “First Demyx, now you guys. I can’t catch a break. I’m not seeing Saix. I haven’t been with him for three years now.” 

“Then tell us about your new boyfriend. How did you guys meet?” Naminé asked as the waitress stopped by to take their orders.Axel ordered some appetizers and a burger, while Naminé settled for a chicken alfredo. Xion asked for a caesar salad.

Once the waitress took their orders and promised them a refill on their drinks and walked away from their table, Xion and Naminé turned back to Axel. “Tell us.” 

Axel chuckled leaning back in his seat. “Fine. He and I met on a blind date.” He confessed. 

Xion was midsip when she set her drink down. “Wait, you really dating  _ Roxas?! _ Sora’s cousin? You were so nervous for your date. Oh my God Axel, why didn’t you say so before?” She shot daggers from across the table at him. 

Axel gave her a sheepish smile before sighing. “I guess, I just got so wrapped into our relationship that I neglected to tell people. Hell, Demyx almost had my ass when he found out that I hadn’t told him yet.” he said leaning back playing with the folded napkin. 

“Demyx told me about that. Well, he didn’t mention that you weren’t dating Saix, just that he almost killed you.” Naminé shrugged.

“I’m gonna kill your brother,” he grumbled as Namine giggled in her seat. 

The appetizers arrived and it wasn’t until Xion was halfway through her second serving of Moogle fries that she noticed Axel’s disheartened stare at his phone. 

“What’s goin’ on, Beanpole? You look a little upset.” Xion asked tilting her head to the side and giving him a smile. 

Axel gave her a weak smile before shrugging before jumping into what happened between him and Roxas. How they were talking, but it was very one sided and how the most interaction he had received was pictures of Roxas and Turkey, with short messages like ‘ilys’ or ‘miss yous’. 

“I didn’t want to take away his independence. I just, what happens if in a few months, he does decide to move in with me? He’ll have to go through the process of having to break his lease and the drama that entails. Maybe I was being selfish.” Axel sighed stabbing on of his fries with a fork before eating. 

“I don’t think you were being selfish, but I definitely think that Roxas has good reason to feel the way he does,” Namine said. “”You said he’s a former drug addict and his ex was an abuser? He may have been told enough times by his ex he wasn’t good enough and now he has this opportunity to prove to himself that he can do this; that he is good enough. You weren’t being selfish Ax, I can tell you really care for Roxas. So let him come to you. Offer him space in your closet first before outright asking him to move in.” Namine said reaching over and squeezing his hand. 

Axel stared at her hand and smiled. “Thanks Nami.” 

After dinner was served, they discussed what was going to happen over the next three days before Axel had to return home. Even though the whole point of the trip was to work on Xion’s balance and how well she walked without her cane, Namine and Xion had plans to talk Axel to the Aquarium. 

Axel and Namine had been talking about a new piece that he wanted to get done while he was there and the last day before he was supposed to leave to go back to Twilight Town, the girls were going to take Axel to the Penny Candy store for candy and Hawaiian Snow. 

Once plans were set, they spent the rest of their dinner catching up more and talking about Turkey before going to home to rest before their fun filled vacation.

\-----

The day before Axel was supposed to return, Roxas looked up at the creme colored, two story house that he once called home. Nothing much had changed except for a few more rose bushes, which stood out in bright patches of pinks, yellows, and reds against the plain siding. He still missed the old tire swing that had hung in the oak tree, but Cloud had taken down when the rope became too weathered to withstand any amount of weight.

As Roxas walked closer to the door,, he noticed the smaller metal table with two metal chairs with big green cushions on them resided in the porch, just out of the way so the door could be open. 

He turned and grinned at Sora, who was carrying the German chocolate cake (Zack’s favorite). “Think they come out here to watch the sunset?” He asked reaching for the doorbell.

“Or they sit out here so Papa can yell at kids who step on his lawn.” Sora snorted, the image of Cloud waving a cane at anyone who stepped on his perfectly manicured lawn.

Roxas joined in as he pressed the doorbell. Though they both had keys and were able to walk into the house as they please, they had found, that since they had moved out, Though they both had keys to let them into the house as they pleased, and even though Cloud and Zack knew they were coming, they'd walked into enough embarrassing scenarios that it was better to let their dads answer the door.

Sora shuddered at the memory before laughing, Roxas joining in. Once they’d moved out for good, they kept the keys handy, but still preferred ringing the bell..

Movement and a muffled “Zack, the boys are here!” could be heard from beyond the door before it opened slowly to reveal Cloud. 

“Hello Boys. Come on in,” Cloud said, stepping aside so Roxas and Sora could enter.

Sora made his way into the kitchen, while Roxas stood back in the living room staring up at the pictures on the walls. Pictures of him and Sora lined the walls with the occasional family photo or a photo of Zack and Cloud scattered in between. He lingered on one picture in particular, and he bit his lip as his eyes met familiar eyes of his mother and the loving eyes of his father. 

His 10 year old self was immortalized with the brightest smile on his face. He pulled out his phone to look at the background of his phone; a pic of him and Axel, kissing his cheek and the same bright smile on his face. 

“Oh, who’s that? He’s cute,” Cloud said from behind Roxas. Roxas yelped and quickly pocketed his phone, his face flushing. 

“Hey Dad,” Roxas said wrapping his arms around the taller male and buried his face into his chest. 

“Hey buddy. Dinner’s ready, we’re just waiting on you,” Cloud said as his hand rubbed Roxas’ back for a moment. He sighed, feeling like everything would be  _ okay.  _ Cloud was always really good at helping Roxas feel at ease. 

“I wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone, but I’m happy to see you happy Rox,” Cloud said softly as Roxas pulled away with a sheepish grin. 

“Yeah, let’s eat dinner.” Roxas headed into the dining room where Zack and Sora were already talking animatedly about who knows what. 

“Ah, finally, now we can dig in.” Zack grinned as he passed the food to Roxas. He piled pasta onto his plate and grabbed a piece of bread.

“Zack, did you know Roxas has a boyfriend? He’s cute too. Red hair, green eyes. Don’t know how I feel about those tattoos under his eyes,” Cloud said as he started scooping his own food and putting it on his plate.

Roxas sunk down into his seat, his face flushing as he tried to make himself feel small. He knew there was a reason they called their monthly dinner a few weeks early and he felt absolutely betrayed.

He glared at Sora who refused to meet his eyes as he slowly ate his food. 

“So Roxas, tell us about him,” Zack asked taking a bite of his food. 

Roxas stared at his own before sitting up a little. There was nothing to be ashamed of, right? They would love Axel and if they didn’t, they’d learn to. 

“His name’s Axel,” he said taking a bite of his food.

Zack and Cloud shared amused looks. 

“How old is he? What does he do for a living? What are his hobbies?” Zack started rattling off questions.

Roxas huffed before taking another bite. 

“He’s twenty-nine, He turns thirty in August. He’s a physical therapist, his hobbies are playing video games and knitting.” Roxas wasn’t going to mention the rock band thing. At least not yet. 

“How long have you guys been seeing each other?” Cloud asked.

Roxas looked at his food, eyes wide. That was a good question. They met in February and it was now the end of May. How long  _ had _ it been?

“Four months? Maybe five? I’m not honestly not entirely sure.” Roxas said trying to do the math.

“Don’t hurt yourself there kiddo. We look forward to meeting him Rox, maybe we can do dinner this upcoming Friday. How are you and Riku doing Sora? How’s the move been going?” Zack changed the subject with ease.

They talked about Sora and Riku moving into their new home and how they were practically moved in but were still waiting on the delivery of a few big items. 

“Have you heard anything from that apartment duplex you applied to?” Cloud asked Roxas who was rolling a piece of pasta around his plate.

Once again, he shrunk down into his seat, afraid to address the issue. He sighed when he met Cloud’s concerned eyes and straightened in his seat.

“I haven’t applied. I, uh…. Axel asked me to move with him and...I’m,” He took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m scared. I’m scared of everything. What if he turns out like Vanitas? What if I’m the problem? What if I say no and he breaks up with me? What if I say no and we don’t break up, but I end up breaking my sobriety? I know, I know, I’m being paranoid. I don’t even know how that would happen because none of my friends do drugs!” Roxas looked at Cloud with tears in his eyes. He bit down on his quivering lip. 

“What if I’m not good enough and he realizes that a few months down the line?” His voice cracked as a sob pushed its way through his sentence. 

Tears blurred Roxas’ vision and he felt himself being moved. He turned to wrap his arms around Cloud’s shoulders as he sobbed into his shirt. 

He felt another hand on his shoulder giving him a reassuring squeeze. 

“Roxo. You are enough. You are good enough. What happened with Vanitas, I don’t know why it happened, but you deserve to be loved by someone who sees how special you are,” Cloud whispered as he petted his hair. 

Roxas gripped his shirt as he cried and nodded. “I love him so much and I am so scared. I’m so scared that I’m going to mess things up,” He whimpered. 

“If he loves you as much as you love him, your mess ups won’t matter,” Cloud promised.

They sat like this until Roxas had calmed down, then headed into the kitchen to clean up. As they cleaned dishes, Cloud quietly remembered aloud. 

“When your Aunt Tifa passes away, Zack was very persistent on moving in with me to help with raising Sora. He was only a few months old and I was convinced I was able to do it on my own,” Cloud handed a plate to Roxas to dry and put away. 

“After a month of trying to raise him on my own, I broke down and asked for help. He gladly moved into my two bedroom apartment and helped me raise Sora. He didn’t do it because he didn’t think I couldn’t do it, he did it because the motherfucker has been in love with me since high school, no matter how much he denies it.” Cloud grinned bumping their shoulders. “And because he wanted to help. We’ve had our good times and bad, but there are no regrets. You find a way to make it work, if you’re both willing to do it together.”

Roxas laughed and grabbed another plate and dried it before placing it in the cupboard. 

“Seriously though, if you don’t want to move in with him just tell him why. I’m sure he’ll be understanding. Just remember what I said okay?” Cloud handed off another plate. 

“Yeah, thanks Dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I wonder what's going to happen. Are they gonna make up? D:  
> Not even I know! (Just kidding, I know what happens) 
> 
> I hope you guys like this chapter because it is the last chapter I will be posting until 2019.
> 
> I've hit a bit of a depressive rut and just can't seem to focus on writing and need to take a break. I may not be active until after KH3, but we'll see how I feel after the first of the year. No worries, during my time away, I will work on the chapters so I can get ahead like I originally planned and hopefully have the rest of the story actually written for quick updates. 
> 
> <3


	8. Meeting the Strife-Fairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Explicit Content Below**

It had been a long, exhausting day of carrying boxes out of his old apartment, down the stairs and into the uHaul truck, only to unpack the uHaul truck and carry the same boxes into their new house. Sora was sure he was going to be exhausted come morning. 

“Can we invest in a gym membership?” he asked Riku as he started to tear the tape off the box labeled ‘kitchen’. 

Riku chuckled and nodded. “It’s all those sweets you eat at work when you should be making them into cupcakes.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sora’s cheek as he set another box on the counter labeled ‘utensils’. 

Pouting, Sora lifted his shirt and poked at his soft belly. “You like belly though,” he whined, then chased after his boyfriend to the truck outside. 

“I never said I didn’t. Here, this is the last box. If you get started on the kitchen, I’ll order pizza.” Riku hooked Sora’s chin with his fingers gently, pressing their mouths together in a soft kiss. Sora hummed into the kiss, tongue darting out to wet them when they separated. 

“Sounds good to me.” Sora waltzed back inside, placing the box into the living room before making his way back into the kitchen to attend to the abandoned box. He pulled out the items the box contained, placing the silverware in it’s designated drawer before moving the pot holders to the drawer next to the stove. 

As he continued to unpack, he placed everything in its rightful place: the spatulas and wooden spoons were placed in the tall vase like cup next to the stove, plates and mugs were placed in the cupboards that lined the walls, and the mickey themed rug, the one that Riku just had to have, was placed in front of the sink. 

Riku walked into the kitchen, his phone pressed to his ear. “What kind of pizza would you like?” he asked, holding his free hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. 

Sora thought it over for a moment. “Pineapple and pepperoni?” he gave Riku a smile. Riku rolled his eyes playfully before walking out of the kitchen into the living room to place the order. 

In the meantime, Sora continued to unpack the kitchen stuff, placing pots and pans in the lower cabinets closest to the oven, while the non-cooking kitchenware were put away near the sink.

“It looks so bare in here still.” Riku commented as he walked into to see how Sora was faring. Sora leaned into his boyfriend, resting his head against his chest as his arms wrapped around his waist. 

“Yeah, but we’ll get some more stuff this weekend, right?” he asked looking up at Riku, his chest resting on his chest. 

Riku nodded before leaning down and capturing Sora’s mouth in a soft kiss. 

Sora slid his hands up Riku’s chest and to his neck, entangling his hands into silver locks as he kissed back, snaking his tongue into Riku’s mouth. 

A soft groan escaped the silverett’s mouth as he leaned down to grab the back of Sora’s thighs to pick him up and placed him on the edge of the counter.   
Sora pulled away to scoot back as much as he could before wrapping his arms around Riku’s shoulders and kissing him again, hands in his hair and their chests flushed together. 

Riku’s hand pushed the edge of Sora’s shirt up, calloused fingers dancing over soft skin and causing shivers to run up Sora’s spine. 

Just as Riku’s hands got to Sora’s chest, the doorbell rang and they pulled away looking in the direction of the front door. 

“Pizza’s here.” he grinned pressing one last kiss to Sora’s mouth before going to answer the door. 

Sora was about to trail after him when his phone started to ring, and he dug it out of his pocket to see Roxas’ face beaming at him from the caller I.D.

“Hey Roxas, what's up?” He asked squeezing Riku’s hand before he got up to walk around. Riku left to get the pizza, and Sora headed into the kitchen to find some plates and napkins. 

“Hey Sora. I’m just at the airport. I’m nervous. What if Axel’s still mad at me?” Roxas voice filtered through his phone. 

Sora bit back a laugh before speaking. “Rox, he’s not gonna be mad. When he shows up, give him a giant hug, kiss the ever living shit out of him and then tell him what we talked about okay? You’ll be fine. Axel loves you. One misunderstanding will not be the end all. Okay?” 

A moment of silence passed before Roxas answered. “Yeah, okay, I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” He said. 

“Deep breaths. Love you too. Bye.” Sora hung up and pocketed his phone before turning to Riku as he set the pizza down on the table. 

“I’m guessing he’s nervous?” Riku asked as Sora took a seat and rested his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, I think he has some unresolved issues from Vanitas. But let’s eat and not worry about Roxas. Once he sees Axel, he’ll forget his worries.” Sora grabbed his plate.

The couple sat and talked while they ate, laughter echoing in the room since there was very little furniture occupying its space, which made their laughter grow. 

When the laughter died down and a few more pieces were eaten, Riku placed his paper plate on the floor before turning to Sora, grabbing his hand.

Confused, Sora looked up at Riku, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at his boyfriend. 

“I can’t believe we finally have our own place.” he said softly. 

Sora hummed as his body relaxed. “Yeah, I can’t either. A lifelong dream.” he said softly. 

“You have been my best friend, for practically my whole life,” Riku said, running his thumbs over the tops of Sora’s fingers. “I want you for a lifetime, Sora.” He dropped one of Sora’s hands to grab something out of his pocket. 

In the middle of his palm was a simple silver band, and he looked at Sora, a shy smile on his face as his teal eyes met deep blue ones. “Will you marry me?” he asked softly, eyes darting away from Sora’s face as his own face started to flush.

Sora’s mouth dropped as he looked at the ring on Riku’s palm then back at his boyfriend. He closed his mouth when he saw the flush that washed over Riku’s face and he was soon grinning wide.

He leaned forward grabbing the back of Riku’s neck and pressing their lips together, trying to muster as much love and affection as he could into the one action. 

“Yes, as God as my witness, yes.” He said as he pulled away, his famous goofy grin on his face. 

Riku mirrored the smile and took Sora’s left hand and slipped the ring onto his ring finger before pulling his boyfriend,his fiancée into a tender kiss. 

“I love you so much.” Riku’s hand cupped Sora’s face before pulling him into a loving kiss. 

Sora entangled his fingers into Riku’s hair as he immediately kissed back. He tilted his head to the side, as one of Riku’s hands pressed against his back, bringing their bodies closer. 

Pulling away, Sora rested his forehead against Riku’s eyes closed. He sighed, content before speaking. “I love you so much, too.” He pressed another kiss to Riku’s mouth, pushing him down until his back was pressed against the couch.

He settled in between Riku’s legs as lazy kisses were exchanged and hands slipped under shirts and teased skin.Sora pulled away for a moment, moving to straddle Riku’s hips as he pulled off his shirt.

Riku sat up and moved back so he was up against the arm rest, hands moving over tan skin. He pulled Sora down so their lips met again, snaking his tongue into Sora’s mouth.

Sora groaned softly, fingers hooking onto the collar of Riku’s shirt and tugged on it. “Off,” he mumbled in between kisses. 

Once his shirt was off, Sora leaned down, pressing kisses to Riku’s neck, hands running over broad shoulders and defined biceps. He kissed back up to Riku’s mouth, hands cupping his neck as his hips rolled down, erection brushing against tight jeans. 

“W-want you, right now.” Sora stuttered between kisses, pleasure building in the pit of his stomach as he continued to slowly roll his hips down against Riku’s.

Riku’s hands made quick work of Sora’s jeans, pushing them down, so he had better access to his lover’s cock. 

Wrapping a warm hand around his length, Riku trailed kisses down Sora’s jaw and to his neck, biting and nipping in random spots as he moved his hand, making sure to gently rub his palm against the head.

Sora gasped, tilting his head back and his hips thrusting into Riku’s hand. His face started to flush, his moans of pleasure reverberating back at him from the empty space. 

“God that’s so hot.” Riku tugged at Sora’s earlobe with his teeth as he rubbed his thumb at the slit. 

Sora let out a choked laugh, that turned into a moan. He bucked his hips, gripping Riku’s shoulders. “Pl-ease.” He begged, tilting his head down, pleasure running through veins, making his body vibrate. 

“Please what baby?” Riku licked at the shell of his ear, dragging his teeth down once he reached the uppermost curve.

Sora gasped, his hips wavering, his body pulsing with pleasure. He leaned his head foreword so it was on Riku’s shoulder, grasping at his arms and chest. 

“Please,” he whimpered. “Fuck me.”

Riku chuckled, pulling Sora up into a heated kiss before he moved Sora off his lap so he could get up. He went to one of the boxes and opened it up, grabbing a bottle of lube and condoms. 

“You came prepared. What would you have done if I said no?” Sora rolled his eyes.

“After 12 years, I figured there would be no way your answer would be no. How do you want to do this?” He asked pushing his jeans and boxers down his hips and off his legs.

Sora watched him for a moment before patting the couch cushion next to him. “I want to ride you.” He bit his lip, his already flushed face turning scarlet.

Riku groaned as he got back on the couch, pressed up against the back of the couch. He slipped the condom on and slicked it up with lube, as he watched Sora slip his own jeans off before moving to straddle Riku’s hips. 

He leaned down and pressed his mouth against Riku’s, slipping his tongue into his mouth as he grinded his hips back, feeling Riku’s length against his ass.

Riku gasped into the kiss, reaching around to position his cock. Sora shifted his hips, and groaned feeling the head push inside. He took a deep breath as he settled down on Riku’s lap, feeling stretched out. 

He painted as Riku leaned forward and pressed kisses to his jaw and neck, his hands gripping his hips. 

Sora rested his hands on Riku’s shoulders, as he started to move his hips back, pleasure mixed with slight discomfort, washed over him.

Riku nipped and sucked at random spots on Sora’s neck, running his hands over his hips and down to his ass, gripping his cheeks and helping him move.

Moans fell from Sora’s mouth as he started to bounce up and down slowly, gripping Riku’s shoulders tightly, one hand entangling into the roots and tugging just slightly. 

He let out a high pitched gasp when the head of Riku’s cock brushed against his prostate, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and soon he was whimpering when he couldn’t manage to brush the bundle of nerves again. 

Riku groaned as he started to thrust into into him, which in turn made Sora stop and lean forward more so Riku had more room to move.

Thrusting up into his lover, Riku gripped Sora’s hips as he helped him move down to meet his thrusts, which cause Sora to moan and pant everytime their hips met. 

The brunet leaned forward, gripping the back of the couch as he bucked his hips being forced down on to Riku’s cock and it took everything in him not to scream out when his prostate was brushed.

Thrusts became erratic as a familiar tightening settled itself in the pit of Riku’s stomach. “Mm fuck, I’m so close.” He moaned his head tilting back.

A semblance of “same” left Sora’s mouth as he gripped his cock and started to move his hand in time with their bodies and soon he shot his load in between their chests, hips rocking as he rode out his orgasm.

The tightening of muscles and the loud scream like moan that left Sora’s mouth, helped coerce Riku’s orgasm.

Panting echoed throughout the room and Riku leaned forward kissing Sora’s cheeks before kissing him on the mouth. “I love you so much. Let’s get cleaned up yeah?”

Sora chuckled and nodded. “Love you too.” He said.

They moved off the couch and cleaned themselves, exchanging loving kisses as they made their way to the shower for a relaxing shower.

—-

After getting off the phone with Sora, Roxas looked around the airport lobby and sighed as he went through again what it was that he wanted to say to Axel. 

He had thought about it on the drive to the airport and during the twenty minute wait, he decided planning what he wanted to say wasn’t the best course of action. He knew he needed to speak from the heart.

“Flight 813 landing.” Was called over the intercom and soon a group of people started emerging from the terminal. 

Roxas stood up and scanned the crowd looking for Axel’s bright red hair, his heart racing his chest. He felt like he was about to have a panic attack from the anticipation.

His eyes landed on his y’all boyfriend and Roxas didn’t even wait before running and launching himself at Axel.

Thankfully, Axel caught him and steadied himself before they both crashed to the ground. 

“I’m so sorry,” Roxas repeated over and over burying his face into Axel’s neck grabbing onto the back of Axel’s shirt.

“Me too, Roxas. Come on, let’s head back to my place and we talk about this more okay?” Axel asked.

Roxas nodded, wiping his eyes before pulling Axel into a kiss. Axel’s arms wrapped around his shoulders as he kissed back, pulling him closer and Roxas smiled into the kiss. 

“I missed you. You’re not allowed to leave ever again. At least not without me and definitely not without me apologizing.” Roxas sighed, resting his head on his chest. 

Acel held him close, pressing kisses to his hair making Roxas smile happily. “Come on, let’s head back.” Roxas said taking Axel’s hand trying to ignore the fallen look on his boyfriend’s face when he mentioned his home.

They grabbed Axel’s luggage and headed to the parking lot to where Roxas’ car was waiting.

The drive to Axel’s place was quiet. “Zack and Cloud want to have dinner tonight. I figured we could go to your place, you can take a nap before they get here.” Roxas asked. 

Axel hummed, his head resting against the window of the passenger seat. “Yeah, that sounds good to me, just remind okay? I’m gonna rest my eyes.” he said, closing his eyes as the jet lag started to creep on him. By the time that Roxas turned onto the highway, Axel’s breathing had grown heavier and soft snores had started to fill the quiet car. 

Almost an hour later, Roxas pulled up next to Axel’s Hyundai Accent and parked his car. He reached over and shook Axel’s shoulder gently until he started to stir. 

“Hey. We made it to your house.” Roxas gave him a soft smile before climbing out of his car to grab Axel’s things out of the back. He followed his boyfriend into the house and went to put his suitcase in his room when Axel’s hand grabbed his wrist.

“Axel?” Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed before he felt his back hit the wall as Axel leaned down to kiss him. Hands were on Roxas’ waist as his own hands entangled themselves in Axel’s hair. 

He kissed back, pressing his body against Axel’s opening his mouth a bit and tasting peanuts and what may have been wine on Axel’s tongue.

“Mm, maybe, we should ta- ah, talk first.” Roxas gasped, feeling Axel kiss and bite at his neck. 

“You’re no fun.” Axel mumbled into his skin, peppering more kisses over his neck before leaning down and hoisting Roxas over his shoulder.

“Axel!” Roxas cried, laughter erupting from his mouth as he beats his hands against Axel’s back. 

“What?” Axel asked as he walked down the hallway and towards his bedroom. 

“What are you doing?” Roxas gave up, his arms hanging in front of him. 

“Bedroom, after we're done talking, I want to take a nap." Axel responded as they head into the bedroom. 

When they reach their destination, Axel dropped Roxas on to the bed. “Oof, hey, c’mere.” he said grabbing Axel’s hoodie and pulled him over. 

He looked up at Axel and gave him a soft smile. “I’m sorry, I know I already apologized, but I really am sorry. I want to move in with you, but not right now. I need to prove to myself that I can do this.” he said. 

Axel kneeled down in front of him and cupped his neck, thumbs going to his cheek. “I know, I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have assumed that you wanted to move in with me without asking. That was a really shitty thing of to assume. I love you, Rox and I never, want to make you uncomfortable,” he said softly. 

Roxas nodded, blinking back tears as he lunged at his boyfriend wrapping his arms around his shoulders. “I love you too, Ax.” he said kissing his cheek before moving away to wipe at his tears. 

“Let’s nap.” he said with a chuckled. 

\----

Their nap lasted for a couple of hours, with Roxas waking up entangled in Axel’s limbs. He rolled over so he was facing his sleeping boyfriend, running a gentle finger over his cheeks.

“Hey, we gotta get up.” Roxas whispered, running the back of his hands along Axel’s cheek, making his face twitch and a not at all threatening sneer form on Axel’s face. 

Axel groaned and pulled Roxas closer to his body as he buried his face into his shoulder. “I don’t wanna.” He whined which made Roxas laugh.

“I know; but we gotta. Zack and Cloud want to meet you and unfortunately I was unable to reschedule to a different time.” Roxas ran a hand over Axel’s cheek, making him bare his teeth like a cat and playfully growl. 

“Errrr.” Axel growled moving so he was hovering over Roxas, who laughed, hands rubbing his boyfriend’s sides. 

“You’re so scary.” Roxas teased as Axel lowered himself so they were chest to chest. 

“You know I could never hurt you on purpose,” he said pressing a kiss to Roxas’ forehead, then his nose and lastly his mouth. 

Kissing back, Roxas cupped either side of Axel’s neck and hummed gently. 

“I know.” They kissed a few more times as Roxas’ hands made their way under Axel’s shirt, pushing it up his torso. 

Axel pulled away first, removing the article of clothing and tossing it to the side, leaning down to kiss Roxas again. 

More kisses were exchanged as tongues danced into mouths and clothes were removed and soon Roxas’ legs are spread, with his boyfriend nestled in between them. 

“I love you so fucking much,” Axel said, running his thumb against Roxas’ lips.

Roxas pressed a kiss against the digit, a bright smile on his face. “I love you too.”

—-

After a few more kisses, the pair got into the shower and quickly got ready for their dinner. 

“Naminé had a really good suggestion,” Axel said as Roxas was slipping on his shirt.

“Naminé? She’s Xion’s...fiancé right?” Roxas asked for clarification before heading into the bathroom to check his hair. 

“Mhm. She said maybe instead of you moving in completely, you could maybe have a drawer?” Axel continued as he leaned back against the bed.

Roxas poked his head out. “A drawer?” A confused expression on his face. 

“Yeah, I clear out a drawer or two and you leave some clothes here for when you stay the night. Maybe bring a toothbrush and some styling products. You still have your own apartment, your own independence but you also have some stuff here too.” Axel explained. 

Roxas thought it over for a moment. The idea wasn’t a bad one. If Roxas was being honest, it was pretty much foolproof. He’d have his independence and Axel would have some sort of semblance of Roxas moving in with him, at least until he was fully moved in. 

“Let’s do it.” he finally decided with a nod. 

Axel sat up and moved off the bed before pulling Roxas into a passionate kiss. “I am so happy.” he grinned. 

Roxas matched his smile pulling him down for another kiss only to groan when it was cut short when the doorbell rang through the house. 

“Ugh, can we lie and say I’m sick?” he whined. 

Axel chuckled, shaking his head. “Sorry babe, come on. You’ll have all of my love and attention after they leave. For now, let’s not keep them waiting too long,” he said. 

Roxas pouted before pulling Axel down for another quick kiss, then he walked out of Axel’s room and to the front door. 

He opened it and grinned at Zack and Cloud. They had a bottle of Mug root beer, a pyrex dish that probably contained enchiladas, and a cheesecake in hand.   
“Hey, we didn’t know what to bring for dessert so we figured cheesecake is good?” Zack asked as he walked into the house. 

Roxas nodded closing the door behind them. “You can place that stuff into the kitchen, root beer can go into the fridge.” he said hugging Cloud. “Axel is finishing up in the bedroom, so he should be out here soon.” Roxas said as he took the enchiladas and placed them in the oven. He set the timer for 45 minutes. 

Leaning against the kitchen counter, He watched as his dads walked around the living room, looking over the art on the walls and Axel’s extensive DVD collection. Cloud called Zack over and they started to whisper over a picture on the entertainment center and Roxas rolled his eyes when he realized which one it was. 

“You guys are cute together. Why hide it for so long?” Zack asked turning to Roxas, who in turn shrugged.

“Wanted to make sure he didn’t turn out like Vanitas.” Roxas admitted quietly before his face lit up. “Do you guys want anything to drink? We have wine, root beer, regular beer, milk?” he asked. 

“Beer,” came the united answer, and Roxas grabbed two bottles from the fridge and handed them over once they were open. 

Axel walked down the hallway and waved at Zack and Cloud. “Hey, I’m Axel, sorry I wasn’t in here to greet ya when you came in, I’m still groggy from the jet lag,” he said as he shook Cloud and then Zack’s hands. 

“Do you play?” Cloud asked pointing to the keyboard that was tucked away into the corner. 

“Uh yeah, I’m in a band.” Axel said as they sat down on the couches, waiting for dinner to be ready.

“Oh yeah? What kind of music do you play?” Cloud asked.

“Rock. But we do some rock covers too. Our lead guitarist is a big music enthusiast.” Axel explained wrapping his arm around Roxas’ shoulders as he snuggled into his side.

Zack looked at Cloud. “Wasn’t Sephiroth in a band?” he asked with a teasing smile. 

Cloud returned it with glare before turning to back to Axel with a serious expression on his face. 

“What do you do for a living?” Cloud asked. 

Roxas had been looking at his phone and quickly looked up at Cloud with confusion on his face. Didn’t they ask this when they had dinner the other day? 

“I’m a physical therapist.” Axel answered with no hesitation. Roxas looked up at him before relaxing back into his side, eyes darting between Zack, Cloud and his phone. 

“How long have you been a physical therapist for?” came Zack’s question next as he set his beer on a coaster on the coffee table. 

Axel bit his lip as he thought it over for a moment. “Goodness, I think it’s been about 5 years now? I got my degree when I was 25, I’m turning 30 in a couple of months. So, yeah, probably been been 5 years.” he nodded. 

Zack hummed as he leaned back against the couch, arm stretched out on the back. However, as Zack seemed to relax, Cloud took up the same interrogative tone.

“What are your intentions with Roxas? As I’m sure you know, we didn’t really know you existed until Sora told us,” Cloud asked, eyes narrowing at Axel. 

Roxas looked over at Cloud. “Dad…” he whined shifting. He didn’t like where this was going and he certainly didn’t like what Cloud was implying. 

“My intentions? Well, I mean, we haven’t been together all that long, but I do love your son and he’s become one of the best things in my life,” he said giving Roxas’ shoulder a squeeze. 

“Do you want a Spring or Summer wedding?” Cloud asked with a smirk. 

At this question, Axel paled. He hadn’t thought about getting married. He and Roxas had just made up after having their first fight, so marriage wasn’t on the table at the moment.

He took a deep breath before letting out a small chuckle. “I mean, I hadn’t really thought about it, I feel like it’s too soon to make that decision. We haven’t even moved in together yet,” he struggled to get his thoughts straight. “Not that I don’t want to! I just, ah, flowers are nice? I guess?”

A few moments passed in silence until the doorbell rang. Roxas sat up and looked at the door before turning to Axel, who shrugged. 

“I didn’t even know your dads were coming until, like, four hours ago. Were you expecting someone else?” Axel asked. 

Roxas shook his head, then got up to answer the door. He opened it to find Riku and Sora ,who were bearing wide grins on their faces. “Uh hi?” he asked moving out of the way to let them in. 

Sora practically skipped into the room, grinning like an idiot, and even Riku walked with a bounce in his step.Roxas followed Sora and Riku farther into the living room, going into the kitchen to take out the enchiladas and setting them on the oven. 

“I know this was supposed to be your guys’ dinner with the parents, but we have some really important news,” Riku said wrapping his arms around Sora. 

Roxas stood next to Axel and leaned into him as he watched his cousin and his boyfriend. “News?” he asked raising an eyebrow. Whatever the news was, it must have been great news because they were ecstatic and could barely stop smiling at each other long enough to spit it out. Zack and Cloud exchanged a fond, but unsurprised look.

Sora nodded before turning to Riku with a wide smile before holding out his left hand. “We’re getting married!” he said excitedly. 

Roxas’ eyes went wide as he grabbed his brother’s hand and examined the ring. “Sora! I’m so happy for you!!” he said dropping his hand and wrapping his arms around Sora, who returned the hug. 

After they separated, Roxas ran into the bedroom to grab his Polaroid camera and grinned as he waited for the [picture](https://www.flickr.com/photos/163400611@N07/46706514452/in/dateposted-public/) to develop. He admired the look of pure love on Sora’s face and hoped that one day, one day, he’d be able to take a similar photo with Axel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAH, I FINALLY UPDATED??  
> Hehe. 
> 
> How was everyone's Christmas and New Years? Mine was pretty good. 
> 
> Are y'all excited for KH3? I can't believe it's finally here. After so long of waiting, it's just, wow. I'm feeling so many emotions and I can't wait to play it. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will try and get more written before KH3 comes out, but I can't make any promises. I will however continue updating once I beat KH3. 
> 
> Oh yeah, check out these amazing pieces art by SirLadySketch, LionHeart-Draws and My roommate (commissioned by my boyfriend). You can find them here [here](https://twitter.com/plantswrites/status/1085215668809527296)
> 
> Picture of Sora and Riku is done by oldmanlemon on twitter <3


	9. Chapter 9:

As the weather grew warmer, June faded into July and as discussed Axel cleared out a drawer in his dresser so Roxas could put some clothes in it.

Mid July found more of Roxas’ clothes as they made their way to the drawer as well as a new toothbrush that sat next to Axel’s.

A litter box for Turkey was situated in the guest bathroom for long stays and Axel had occasionally mistaken the cat bowl with different colored paw prints for a his cereal bowl. 

“Did you...did you just grab one of Turkey’s bowls?” Roxas asked the morning of Axel’s birthday party, after he watched Axel grab one of the bowls and poured some cereal.

Axel laughed running his hand down his face. “Yeah, this is the third time I’ve done it this week.” He shook his head, grabbing a clean bowl and emptied the cat bowl and tossed it in the sink. “At least it’s clean and not filled with cat food crumbs.” He said grabbing the milk from the fridge. 

Roxas laughed shaking his head. “By the way, I have an appointment with Luisa.” He mentioned as he grabbed a bowl for himself and poured some cereal in it. 

“Luisa…. your landlord?” Axel asked before scooping some cereal and eating it. 

“Mhm, handing in my keys to the apartment.” Roxas bit back a smirk.

Axel stood there staring at his cereal for a few moments before his eyes grew wide and a giant smile formed on his face. “Does this mean your going to move in with me?” he asked placing his bowl on the counter. 

Roxas nodded and grinned wrapping his arms around Axel as he hugged him. He laughed as Axel lifted him and spun him around. 

“Can we cancel the party? I don’t need a party, I just got the best present ever.” Axel said as he set Roxas down. 

“Aso much as I would love for us to cancel and spend all day with you, it’s too late to cancel.” Roxas pouted. “Besides if we cancel we’re going to pack my stuff and let's be real, I think partying is a lot more fun.” 

Axel groaned playfully and stomped his feet to pretend like he was throwing a fit. “Fine, are you coming with me to pick up booze?” he asked, his arm wrapped around Roxas’ waist.

Roxas shook his head. “Nope. I was going to decorate and then wrap your present,” he said as he wrapped his arms around Axel’s neck, twirling a lock of red hair around his finger.

“Oh, do I get to know what you got me? Is it you, wearing absolutely nothing but a purple bow?” Axel smirked as Roxas laughed.

“Hmm, that’s a good idea, I should return your present and do that instead.” Roxas resting his head his boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“Nooo, why not get me both?” Axel leaned down as Roxas looked up, hands on his chest. 

“Hm, maybe I will.” Roxas said his lips brushing against Axel’s. 

The soft touch sent shivers down Roxas’ spine and goosebumps up his arms as he closed the distance between them and gently pressed his lips against Axel’s in a soft kiss. 

“You should really head out. Demyx and Zexion are supposed to be here in an hour or so and if Demyx is even remotely half as intense as you make him out to be, I’m in trouble.” Roxas laughed.

Axel rolled his eyes as he kissed Roxas again before moving away from him to grab his keys. “I’ll be back in about an hour okay? I love you.” he said before heading out the door. 

“I love you too.” Roxas called as he watched Axel leave before he headed into the bedroom to retrieve his gift for his boyfriend.He dug through his dresser drawer until he found it; a long, narrow box that could easily be mistaken for a jewelry case. He opened it up and confirmed that both slips of paper were in there before closing it again. He had saved up and gotten them plane tickets for a couples retreat at Destiny Islands. He thought Axel would like to have a vacation. 

Putting the box into a small red bag, he found some tissue paper and filled the bag so he couldn’t see into it and headed into the kitchen and placed the bag on the island. He started to clean up the dishes, rinsing them off and placing them in the dishwasher before wiping down the counters. 

He moved on to making appetizers for their guests, placing cream cheese filled salami rolls on a tray and dumping a bag of meatballs into the slow cooker with the sauce Axel had made the night before. 

Once he was finished with that, he headed back into Axel’s bedroom and found the birthday decorations they had bought a few weeks ago as well as the little helium tank. He hung up a red and silver banner that read ‘Happy Fucking Birthday’ and started to fill up red, silver and black balloons, tying them with strings before letting them float to the ceiling. 

As he was preparing the photobooth area, the doorbell rang and Roxas looked at his phone to see what time it was. There was still about two hours before Demyx and Zexion were supposed to show up. He finished hanging up the back drop quickly before running to the door to answer it. 

He opened the door to find a man about as tall as Axel, with somewhat long hair and striking blue green eyes, standing in front of him, a bag in his hand. 

“Hi, is Axel home?” the stranger asked. 

Roxas shook his head. “Oh, no, he’s actually out. Are you here for the party?” he asked tilting his head to the side. He didn’t remember seeing the stranger in Axel’s list of friends. 

The blue-haired stranger shook his head with a small smile. “No, I wanted to drop this off for Axel.” he said handing out the bag. It was a blue ombre into silver bag with silver tissue sticking out of it. 

Roxas took the bag and smiled. “Oh, should I tell him you stopped by…?” he trailed off once he realized he hadn’t actually gotten the stranger’s name. 

“Saix. Just tell him I’m sorry that I missed him.” Saix said giving Roxas a nod before heading down the path and back to the silver Audi that was parked in front of the house. 

Roxas nodded, saying his goodbyes before closing the door and heading back inside. Thinking nothing of it, he placed the bag on the kitchen island before resuming his birthday party decorating duties. 

As he was finishing up the big three and zero balloons, he heard the front door opened and soon Axel entered the kitchen, a woman about his age, maybe a year older with red hair and bright blue eyes, carried in grocery bags behind him.

“Hey Axel? Why are you making our guests carry in groceries?” He asked. 

Axel turned and looked at the woman next to him, who had her arms crossed against her chest and a smirk on her face. 

“She’s not a guest. She’s my sister. Roxas, meet Kairi.” 

Roxas narrowed his eyes at Axel for a moment before turning to Kairi and holding his hand out to Kairi. “It’s really nice to meet you.” he grinned. 

“Likewise, granted, I didn’t know my brother was seeing anyone and you reached out to me, telling me you were his boyfriend, I had to talk to Reno because someone didn’t tell me he was seeing anyone and refused to answer my phone calls. When Reno told me that yes, Axel was indeed seeing some, a cute blond named Roxas, I had to come by, because Axel, doesn’t tell anyone about anything. Just sneaks it up onto his social media and then ignores us when we ask him about it.” Kairi reached over and punched Axel’s arm. 

“Ow, you can’t hit me! I’m the birthday boy!” Axel whined as he rubbed his arm. 

Roxas bit back a laugh as he watched Kairi go to punch him again and Axel moved out of the way, sticking his tongue out at his sister. 

Kairi looked at Roxas and pointed at him. “Can you believe he’s turning thirty? You’d think he’s turning two, considering how much of a baby he is.” She huffed as Axel moved behind Roxas.

Looking up at Axel, Roxas laughed shaking his head. “Sometimes I question it myself.” His laugh grew more when Axel’s mouth gaped.

Before Roxas could say anything further, his attention was captured by the doorbell echoing through the house. He shook his head as Kairi and Axel continued to bicker playfully and he went to answer the door. 

Sora and Riku stood on the other side with two other people behind them, whom he didn’t recognize. One was just as tall as Riku, with sandy blond hair, styled into what could only be considered a “high fashion mullet.” The other was just as tall as he was, with blue gray hair covering part of his face. 

“Thanks for coming, come on in!” Roxas beamed opening the door wider to let their guests inside. 

“You must be Roxas, I’m Zexion and this is my husband Demyx..” The shorter two said, gesturing to the blond behind him, as Roxas closed the door behind them. 

“Ah, it’s so nice to meet you guys, I’ve heard a lot of great things about you.” Roxas felt his face flushed as Demyx stared at him, his blue-green eyes running over his face as he studied him. 

After a few more moments, Demyx perked up and grinned at Roxas. “I can see why Axel talks about you all the time!! You’re so cute!!!” He said pinching Roxas’ cheeks and ruffling his hair, before directing his attention to the red head. 

Roxas let out a breath before laughing, swatting at Demyx’s hands and then running his hands through his hair to fix it. “He does?” He asked looking over at his boyfriend who was busy animatedly talking to Sora, Riku and Kairi.

A smile broke out on his face as he watched him, the warmth of being in love spread over his body.

“Yeah, Marluxia and Xigbar give him so much grief during band practice. It’s super cute considering his past relationship. It’s nice to see him so happy and not so stressed. It’s like the moment he met you, all of his worries washed away..” Demyx said.

Roxas bit his lip to prevent the the smile that was trying to form on them. “Well, I can say that the feeling is most definitely mutual.” he said as his face split into a giant smile. 

Demyx grinned ruffling Roxas’ hair. “Glad to hear it. But hey, he and I have been friends since we were five, you hurt him and I’ll come after you.” Demyx pointed a finger at Roxas. 

“No worries Demyx, I would kick my own ass if I ever hurt Axel.” Roxas gave him a closed mouth smile before turning back to watch his boyfriend. 

Axel was laughing at something Riku had said, his head thrown back and a hand on his stomach. 

Roxas’ eyes darted to his face, taking in his boyfriend’s features as he laughed. Took in the way his nose scrunched as he laughed and the way his laugh reached his eyes, making them more bright than usual. Took in the way his cheeks flushed from laughing so hard.

He couldn’t help but grin upon hearing his laugh and he turned and looked at Demyx. “I would do anything for him.” he admitted just barely over a whisper.

Demyx gave him a small smile and a short nod before patting his shoulder and going to join his husband. 

It was about an hour after the party started when the rest of the guest arrived. Xigbar has brought his wife Ava while Marluxia brought his girlfriend Analise. Upon their arrival, they handed off their gifts to Roxas and informing how excited they were to meet him.

Roxas was terrified of Xigbar and he determined that Marluxia smelt like Roses and cherry blossoms and it made him sneeze something awful. 

Reno, Axel’s older brother stopped by for a moment to visit with his siblings and give Axel his gift (a poster and travel mug) before heading out to be with his wife who was going in for surgery. 

Namine and Xion were the last ones to show up and they both gave Roxas huge hugs when he answered the door. “Ah, he’s so much cuter in person! It’s so nice to meet you!” Namine said after pressing kisses to both his cheeks. 

Xion gave him a hug and a smile, wordlessly ruffling his hair before she moved around him to see her cousins. 

“Axel! Kairi!” Xion said as he made her way to the kitchen, the cane she usually used to balance herself was being carried by Namine who was close behind her fiance. 

Axel grinned and rushed over to his cousin and wrapped his arms around her. “I didn’t know you guys were gonna show up! Roxas, did you do this?” he asked turning to his boyfriend. 

Roxas shrugged with a wide grin. “I may or may not have, had something to do with this.” he said. He had reached out to Xion and Namine a few weeks after Axel returned from his trip in Radiant Garden. They agreed to make the trip out to surprise Axel and they made sure to not say anything to tip off the birthday boy. 

Axel bit his lip and grinned moving to wrap his arms around Roxas’ before pulling away a to capture Roxas’ in a kiss.

Roxas kissed him back and smiled. “Happy birthday babe.” he said when they pulled away. 

“This is the best birthday.” he said holding Roxas to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

\----

The party progressed, photobooth pics were taken, pizza and snacks were consumed all the while Axel and Demyx had done a terrible rendition of every popular 80’s rock they could muster to entertain the guests. 

“I think, it’s time the old man, I mean, birthday boy opens his gifts!” Kairi said with a wicked grin as Axel took a seat, wrapping his arm around Roxas’ shoulder who was busy talking with Zexion. 

“Baaabe. Kairi is being mean to me.” Axel whined resting his hand on Roxas’ shoulder. 

The blond chuckled and patted Axel’s cheek gently before kissing the other cheek. “You can handle it.” he teased before pressing another kiss to his cheek. 

“Here’s the first gift.” Kairi said handing him one of the gifts. 

Axel thanked her and looked at the tag and read aloud that the gift was from Demyx. He unwrapped the box and opened. He pulled out a box of Cookie Tree cookies and laughed. There were a few other items like a nice pair of wine glasses with monogrammed A’s on them and some new knitting needles. 

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the cookies before examining the glasses and knitting needles. “Oh maybe you can make Turkey a new sweater.” he said grinning tapping the needles together before placing them back in the bag. 

Axel chuckled as the next gift was handed to him and started to open it. 

Once a gift was revealed, Axel would set it aside and Kairi would hand him another. Zexion bought him a bottle of his favorite wine and bought him a some wine toppers. Xigbar and Ava bought him a nice scarf for his trips to Radiant Garden and a gift card to his favorite store, Marluxia and Selene, bought him some slippers and Naminé and Xion bought him a new briefcase and “adopt a red panda” certificate from the local red panda sanctuary in Radiant Garden.

Roxas grabbed his gift and handed him the bag and grinned at Axel. 

He watched his boyfriend toss the tissue paper to the side and pull out the long box.

“Did you buy him jewelry?” Xigbar asked with a laugh which earned him a slap on the chest by Ava.

Roxas stuck his tongue out at Xigbar before turning back to Axel to gauge his reaction.

Axel lifted the box to find the two tickets that Roxas had placed inside and looked up at his boyfriend with an amused smile. 

“Wait, what is this?” he asked holding up the tickets, a smile forming on his face. 

Roxas bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders before placing his hand on Axel’s arm. “I was thinking we could go sometime. The tickets are good for a year so maybe we can do a Christmas getaway or something.” he explained. 

“I would love that.” Axel said placing the tickets back in the box before grabbing Roxas’ face and pulling him into a kiss. 

Roxas chuckled before kissing back, pulling away when he heard their friends cat calling and telling them to get a room. 

He leaned back against the couch slapping Zexion’s shoulder playfully which only made the older male laugh harder. 

The last gift, which was a copy of the picture they took of Axel and Roxas at the Lights Festival. 

“Wow, this is amazing.” Axel said running a thumb over the frame which held the photo. He held it out to Roxas who took it and looked at it. 

Everyone stayed on the couch after wrapping paper and bags were cleaned up, talking among themselves and telling jokes. 

Sora and Riku were the first to go having a cake tasting appointment. It wasn’t long before the others started to disperse, having to head home before it got too late. 

After the guests left, Roxas and Axel settled on the couch so Roxas could give Axel the rest of his gifts. 

As Axel was opening his second gift from Roxas (a scrapbook kit) the blond popped off the couch and rushed to the kitchen. 

“Everything okay Rox?” the redhead asked, as Roxas grabbed the blue to silver ombre bag that Saix had brought over before the party. 

“Yeah, I forgot about this. Your, uh, friend? Saix? Stopped by earlier and brought this over. He said he was sorry that he missed you. I don’t know, it was strange, but he was really polite.” Roxas explained holding the bag out to Axel. 

“Babe whats wrong?” Roxas asked, dropping his hand as his eyes fell onto Axel’s face which had grown pale from hearing Saix’s name. 

Axel looked at him, his eyes wide and filled with tears. “I-I can’t open that. I won’t open that, I have no idea what’s in there, why did he stop by?” he asked burying his face in his hands, 

Roxas placed the bag on the floor and pushed Axel’s hands away from his face and held his face in his own hands. “Look at me.” he said softly, giving his boyfriend a small smile when green eyes met his. 

“I don’t know what happened, but I do think you should at least open the gift. He did at least make the trip over here to deliver it to you. If it’s any consolation, he did seem rather...disheartened? Maybe that isn’t the right word to use. Upset? That he wasn’t able to speak with you.” he said softly. 

Axel sighed shaking his head. “I just don’t understand why he had to show up at all. What was his business here? We haven’t spoken in five years.” he sighed again and ran his hand through his hair. 

“I’ll open it. I understand that you don’t want anything to do with it, but I do think it’s important for you to see what he got you.” Roxas said grabbing the bag and placing it into his lap. He pulled the tissue out of the bag and placed it to the side. 

The first item on the very top was some orange and red Vicuna yarn, which Roxas knew was incredibly expensive having gone and looked at it himself when he went to buy his own gift. He showed them to Axel who had since sat up and was leaning against the arm of the couch and watching him unpack the bag. 

The second item was a blanket made of different shades of teal, green and blue all crotched together into a beautiful pattern of ombre’d swirls. He revealed it to see how long it was when a small velvet box fell out into Roxas’ lap. 

Refolding the blanket, Roxas set it aside and grabbed the box off his lap and examined it. 

“Is this… is this an engagement ring?” Roxas asked as he opened the box to reveal subtle tungsten band, with a ruby settled into the middle of it. He looked over at Axel and reached over grabbing his arm and rubbed his thumb against his skin. 

Axel had quickly wiped his eyes with his free hand and sighed. “He and I were engaged, at some point. It was a short engagement, didn’t even reach a month. I think it was two and a half weeks into our engagement that he told me he didn’t want to marry me and that he was seeing someone else. I was too distraught to retrieve the ring, I left the house and spent a few days with Demyx. When I returned all of his stuff was gone. A few months down the line, Riku agreed to move with me because he needed a place to stay and yeah, the rest is history.” He explained.

Roxas placed his hand on the side of Axel’s face and pulled him closer so he could place a kiss on his cheek. He rested his forehead on his temple and sighed. “I’m so sorry.” He said. 

Axel moved so he was resting his head on Roxas shoulder, the blond moving to wrap around his shoulders to hold him close.

“I hope you’re not mad at me for not telling you.” Axel whispered.

Roxas rested his head against Axel’s and smiled softly. “I could never be mad at you Ax.” he buried his face into red locks and sighed softly. “I love you, nothing will ever change that.” he whispered. 

Silence fell over them and eventually they laid on the couch, falling asleep in each others arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man. I hope so sorry for this taking me as long as it did to get this out to you guys. 
> 
> Let me know if this doesn't flow well or there's mistakes. I edited it myself and just ugh. 
> 
> Hopefully it won't take me as long to write these chapters up! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **sexual content**

Over the past couple of weeks, Roxas spent his days packing his belongings to bring to Axel’s house. When he was sure everything was packed up and ready to go he and Axel started moving things over to his new home. 

“Yes Olette, as soon as I know when Axel is free, I will let you guys know so we can get lunch, okay?” Roxas grabbed his phone that was pressed between his ear and shoulder. 

“You better Roxas! We want to meet this Axel guy before Sora’s wedding! Especially since we’ve heard so much from Sora and not from you, the guy’s boyfriend.” Olette’s voice was lilting through the speaker which made Roxas let out a small laugh, 

“I know. I’m trying to be better. He’s at least met my dad’s! Granted, they found out about him through Sora, but I promise you will. I have to go, Axel is bringing in the last of my stuff and we’re gonna work on getting stuff unpacked.” Roxas looked over at the red head who was taking a couple of boxes into their bedroom.

“Fine, but if I don’t hear from you in the next week, I’ll find out where you live now and kick your ass Roxas.” Olette said which sent Roxas into a giggling fit. 

Once his laughter died down, he promised, once again to call Olette before saying goodbye and ending the call. He pocketed his phone before going into the bedroom to help Axel. 

“Olette wants us to have lunch with us. She’s gathering Hayner and Pence too so they can all meet you and probably threaten to kill you if you ever break my heart.” Roxas said as he walked into room where Axel was sorting through the boxes to see where they needed to go. 

“Hmm, that sounds about right. Granted, I’m not afraid of them, I’m more afraid of Sora. He may be short but he is terrifying. Plus he has Cloud and Zack.” Axel said as he grabbed the box labeled ‘kitchen’ and set it on top of the box labeled ‘desk stuff’. 

Roxas snorted grabbing a box labeled bathroom and taking it to the conjoined bathroom. “Sora isn’t that scary Axel. And Cloud is literally just a big teddy bear. The most he’d do is make you die of laughter. Anyway, what day would work for you? I’m waiting to go in to see what days I have off this week since they’re changing schedules.” he said as he started to unpack his things and put them where they needed to go. 

“Hmm, I’d have to look at my schedule, see what days I have the least amount of clients.” Axel said from the bedroom. 

Roxas nodded as he walked out of the bathroom, breaking down the box and setting it against the wall. 

“Sounds good to me babe.” Roxas said as he leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

Axel turned and captured Roxas’ mouth in a gentle kiss, hand cupping the side of his neck, thumb running along Roxas’ jaw. 

Roxas smiled and kissed back, sighing softly as his hands went to Axel’s waist, pushing under the hem of the shirt he was wearing. 

“Hm, I think we should celebrate.” Axel said as he pressed kisses down Roxas’ jaw and neck 

“How do you purpose we do that?” Roxas asked tilting his head to the side and letting out soft gasp, eyes fluttering close as his hands ran up Axel’s chest, teasing over pierced nipples and soft skin.

Axel kissed him again and lead him to the bed. “I can think of a few things.” he said pulling off his shirt and moving to help Roxas remove his. 

They shed their clothes and got on the bed with Roxas on his back with his legs spread as Axel stretched him, kissing all over his chest and stomach to ease the slight discomfort. 

Axel stretched him for a few minutes, moving his fingers and searching gently for his prostate. Roxas’ gasps and whines indicated that he had found what he was looking for. 

“So beautiful.” Axel murmured kissing his stomach gently as he pumped his fingers in and out of Roxas.

“Please.” Roxas panted, rolling his hips against Axel’s hand. 

Axel rolled on a condom before he positioned himself and eased into Roxas.. Once their hips were flushed together, Roxas’ legs wrapped around Axel’s waist, ankles locked behind his boyfriend’s back, Axel started to rock hips hips into Roxas.

Pants and “oh fucks” filled the room only to be silenced when Axel pressed his mouth to Roxas’. 

Roxas’ hands gripped Axel’s shoulders, nails digging into his skin as Axel continued to thrust into him, trying to find his prostate.

The loud pleasure filled cry told Axel that he found it. He gripped Roxas’ thighs for better leverage as he quickened his pace causing soft “ahs” and his own name to fall from Roxas’ mouth. 

Sounds of pleasure with the sound of the bed squeaking softly were all that could be heard as Axel wrapped his hand around Roxas’ cock, pumping him in tune with his movements. 

It was shortly after that they reached their climaxes, Axel spilling into the condom and Roxas in between their body. 

“Sorry.” Roxas panted resting his forehead against Axel’s shoulder, groaning at how sweaty they both were. 

Axel only laughed pressing a kiss to Roxas’ neck before making the blond get up so he could dispose of the condom and get cleaned off. 

“Bath time?” Axel asked him from the bathroom, which had Roxas getting off the bed quickly to join him. 

Later that evening, when all of Roxas’ boxes were unpacked and broken down and shoved into the garage for a later day, Roxas flopped onto the couch where Turkey instantly curled up onto his chest. 

“So tomorrow you’re going to lunch with Saix?” he asked rubbing a hand over Turkey’s nose, which made the peach cat chirp and rub it’s face against his hand. 

Axel was busy in the kitchen putting away the leftovers from dinner. 

“Yeah, we’re meeting up for lunch before my last client. I figured we’d talk a little, I’ll thank him for the gifts and then we’ll be on our way. Saix can leave knowing he cleared his conscious or whatever.” Axel waved a hand to dismiss the whole ordeal. 

Narrowing his eyes playfully at Axel for a moment, Roxas shook his head with a soft smile forming on his lips. He knew his boyfriend was nervous about the lunch, even if he wasn’t going to fess up to it and Roxas, well, he knew better than to push the issue, from years of doing so with Vanitas. 

He walked over and wrapped his arms around Axel’s waist, pressing his cheek to the space between his boyfriend’s shoulder blades. 

“Hi.” Axel said with a laugh, his own hands resting on Roxas. 

“It’s okay to be nervous about tomorrow. It’s been a long time. I’m sure he’s just as nervous. 

Silence fell between the two before Axel turned around and cupped Roxas’ cheeks before leaning down and giving him a gentle kiss. 

Their lips lingered for a moment, before Axel pulled away and nuzzled his nose gently. 

“I know, come on. Let’s go to bed. I’m tired.” Axel yawned and stretched before heading down the hallway and to their bedroom. 

\-------

Axel watched as Saix effortlessly chatted away with their waitress as if this wasn't the first time they were seeing each other after 5 years. It was awkward at first, started sentences that ended quickly because they spoke at the same time, shy chuckles and clearing of throats because, well did you say to the guy who left you days after your engagement for his boss? 

The wave of awkward didn’t start to lift until Saix apologized to him, telling him how their break up and the ending of their friendship took a toll on him and how for a long time, he regretted ever going to Xemnas. 

Axel, of course, forgave him. Despite the long five years that was spent learning to unlove Saix and to undo all the hurt he had felt, it wasn’t in Axel’s nature to hold a grudge.

He took in his features, blue hair cascading down his broad shoulders and chest and how he actually looked healthy; healthier than he did when they were in college. He looked, well...he looked good. 

Grabbing his glass, he took a sip only to still when he noticed Saix studying him.

“Your wrist.” Saix reached over and grabbed Axel’s wrist gently before twisting it to see the small crescent moon tattoo that was inked there.

Axel’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at the tattoo before darting his eyes back to Saix. “What about it?” he asked. 

Saix ran a thumb over the crescent moon before he gently let go of Axel’s wrist. He twisted his own arm to show off the small sun he had on his own wrist and gave Axel a sad smile. “I had thought, after all this time, maybe you would’ve had it covered.” he admitted. 

Axel licked his lips before letting out a small huff of air. “I considered it. For the first couple years, but then I remembered that we didn’t do this because we were boyfriends. We were best friends before we dated, why would I want to forget that?” he asked. 

Saix gave Axel a small smile before grabbing his water and taking a sip. “I didn’t know you still considered us friends. After everything I did to you. I mean, I cheated on you Axel, left you for another man after you proposed. I never thought you’d forgive me.” he said softly. 

Axel chewed on his lip before releasing it. Had you asked Axel if he’d forgive Saix several months ago he would’ve laughed. Roxas had told him that morning, that forgiving him noW, would help him start to heal.

“I know I don’t know the whole story Ax. But I do know that Saix decided to make an effort to reach out to you. Maybe forgiving him will you give you the chance to heal completely.” 

“Meeting Roxas after five years, really opened my eyes to a lot of things and one of those things is forgiveness.” he said softly. His eyes darted over Saix’s face and the blue haired man smiled. 

“Despite our interaction was very, very, short, I do appreciate how kind he was. He seemed very sweet and charming.” Saix commented.

Axel chuckled as their waitress walked up to their table to take their orders. He ordered some moogle fries while Saix settled on a caesar chicken salad. 

“Roxas is, well, he is the love of my life. He’s amazing and he makes me a better person and I’m really happy. What about you? How are you and what’s his name again? Xemnas?” he asked. 

“Oh, he and I aren’t together anymore. Turns out he was married with kids. Funny how that came full circle huh?” Saix let out a chuckle before shaking his head. “Anyway, Terra, is the guy I’m seeing now, sweet guy. We met at the gym, where he works.” 

Axel’s eyes widened for a moment before his expression relaxed and he gave his ex a soft smile. 

“I'm so sorry Saix, I didn’t know. But I’m glad that you found someone who makes you happy. Seriously, I’m really happy for you.” he promised. 

Saix only shrugged before speaking. “I should’ve known better honestly. What kind of boss pays that much attention to their employee? But I do appreciate it though.” He laughed. 

The waitress returned with their food and Saix jumped into a sweet story of how Terra had asked him out during one of their weekly hikes they went on and the dinners that usually consisted of Terra and his closest friends. 

“How long have you and Roxas been together?” Saix asked after he finished his story and took a bite of his salad, eyes on Axel. 

Axel stilled as he tried to remember how long ago their first date was. “I think it’s been about six months? I haven’t really paid attention to how much time has passed.” he admitted. 

“You must really like him.” Saix commented. 

Thinking about Roxas at home, curled up on the couch with Turkey brought a smile to Axel’s face. 

“I love him, a lot.” Axel replied staring at his friend’s plate for a moment before taking a bite of his own food. 

They continued to talk as the ate, catching up on the things that had happened or didn’t happen while they weren’t speaking. 

Once they were both finished their lunch, Saix paid since it was his idea to meet up in the first place. 

“You could’ve at least let me pay for half or even the tip.” Axel said with a roll of his eyes as they walked to the parking lot. 

He saw Saix shrug in his peripheral before turning to him when they reached Axel’s car. 

“You can pay for next time.” Saix said as he smirked playfully at the red head. 

Axel fought back a smile before he let out a laugh. “Yeah?” he was unaware there would even be an next time. 

Saix matched his smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see you later Ax.” he said as he started to walk backwards before turning around to find his car. 

“Bye Sai.” Axel watched Saix reach his car before he got into his own. He sent a quick message to Roxas to let him know he was about to head home before turning on his car and driving home. 

When he got home, Roxas was curled up on the couch with Turkey curled up on his lap as he looked through what looked to be Twitter. 

“I’m home.” Axel said as he toed off his shoes and hung up his keys. He noticed two blue boxes on the coffee table next to Roxas’ drink. 

“Hi babe. How was lunch?” Roxas asked snuggling into his side once he sat down on the couch and rested his arm along the back. 

Axel shrugged. “It was nice. We talked about stuff and how things have changed since we broke up. He’s seeing someone and seems really happy now.” he said leaning over and pressing a kiss to Roxas’ cheek. “How was your day?” he asked resting his head on Roxas’ shoulder.

“I won’t bore you with the details of the wedding venue, but Riku and Sora left these for us. I figured we could open them together.” Roxas leaned over and grabbed the boxes off the coffee table. 

Axel took the top one that had his name is fancy cursive and gold foil. 

“What is it?” Axel asked moving the box around trying to figure out what the box entailed. He set the box in his lap when he couldn’t find any clues indicating the contents of the box. 

Roxas shrugged his shoulders next to him before opening his own box. 

Axel looked down at his own before opening it to find a card that once again had his name in gold foil and fancy cursive. He opened the card and chuckled at what Riku had written. 

Axel, 

I’ve already asked you, but Sora has his heart set on us sending these goodie boxes so we both pitched in and put things in here to show our gratitude for being my best man. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Maybe consider putting your hand towels up now that Roxas lives with you and maybe he’ll want to marry you. Anyway, thanks Ax.

\-- Riku. 

Marriage. It wasn’t something that Axel had considered just yet. After all they had just moved in and they hadn’t even been together for a year. He looked over at Roxas who was looking at his own card, a giant smile on his face. 

He didn’t know if he was ready for marriage just yet. 

Setting the card to the side, Axel started rummaging through the things he got. There was a stemless wine glass with a gold A, some red hand towels and some lemon scented hand and dish soap. 

He shook his head he looked at the other things that were stashed away. A bag of gummy bears were in a glass mason jar cup and he knew that had to be Sora. 

There were a few of his favorite candy bars tucked into the bottom of the box and a ball of red and orange yarn that he was gonna have to use for the upcoming fall to make Turkey a sweater. 

He looked over at Roxas and rested his cheek on his shoulder. 

“What did yours have in it?” Axel asked. 

Roxas showed him the card that read ‘will mew be my best man?’ with a foiled paw print below the text. 

“Cute.” Axel mused taking the card and flipping it over and placing it back in Roxas’ box when he found there was nothing. 

“Lets see, a lot of cat themed stuff. Some of my favorite lotions, cat hat for Turkey, some candy, a bottle of root beer. A really cool reusable cup for work.” Roxas said showing Axel the cup. It was clear with his name written in a turquoise foil. 

“Nice. I want one. I’ll have to ask Sora where they got it at.” Axel handed the cup back to Roxas before pressing a kiss to Roxas’ cheek and getting up off the couch. 

He stretched before standing up. “I’m gonna take a bath, today was kind of stressful.” he fixed his shirt and looked over at Roxas smirking. 

Roxas grinned and picked up Turkey and placed him on the pile of blankets that were there for the cat. “I’ll grab some music.” he said running down the hall as Axel went to prepare the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man. It’s been a while huh? I’ve been having a hard time with this chapter but I finally got it written and now it’s here. 
> 
> This chapter is def just filler with some setting up for drama later. 
> 
> Whatcha guys think about Saïx?
> 
> Anyway, next chapter up soon!!!


	11. Wedding Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW: talks about drug abuse, physical abuse, panic attacks

The smell of eggs and bacon filled the room that Roxas had been sleeping in which caused a wave of hunger, nausea and utter regret to rush over him. 

Memories of a club with colorful lights, dancing with Axel and Xion, sneaking off to make out with Axel and taking way too many shots, flashed through Roxas’ mind as he started to wake up. He turned slowly onto the bed, a groan falling from his mouth as the loud, obnoxious rattle of the curtains being pulled open filled his ears.

“Why is it so bright?” He groaned, covering his face with the pillow. The intruding light was causing white spots to float behind his eyelids and a surge of pain rushed through his head. His eyes were even starting to water from the pain. 

A soft giggle came from the direction of the curtains and he quickly sat up, which caused more nausea and some light headedness to rush through him. He placed his palm on his forehead as he shot a glare at the source.

Xion grinned at him, leaning against her cane.

“I’m guessing you don’t usually go as hard as you did last night, do ya?” She asked, her head tilting to the side, giving him a sympathetic look.

Roxas shook his head which he instantly regretted, the motion making his head hurt and the nausea flair.

“That was my first time drinking. I’m never doing that again. Ever.” Roxas said.

Xion threw her head back and grabbed her chest, laughing at Roxas’ words.. “That’s what they all say buddy. Lemme get you some aspirin. Axel made breakfast, so he should be up soon.” She said before heading out of the room.

Roxas sighed and fell back against the bed. 

Just as Xion promised she brought him some aspirin and water and almost ten minutes after that, Axel came up with two plates and handed one to Roxas after he sat up. 

“How are you feeling?” Axel asked getting on the bed and getting settled. He took his own plate and set it on his lap and took a bite of the eggs. 

Roxas poked around at his food a bit, mixing the eggs with the potatoes and cheese. “I’m hungover. I never wanna do that again.” he said taking a bite of his food. 

Axel chuckled as he wrapped and arm around Roxas’ neck and pulled him close so he could press a kiss to his temple. 

“I guess I’ll have to take back all of the alcohol I ordered for your birthday in October.” Axel teased pressing another kiss to his temple before he continued to eat.

Roxas threw a glare at his boyfriend but the smile that was tugging at his lips gave him away. 

Silence over them as they ate, Axel occasionally nudging Roxas’ arm to show him some funny meme he found on Twitter. 

“She was using her cane this morning.” Roxas mentioned, referring to Xion. He took a final bite of his food before setting his plate on top of Axel’s.

Axel nodded as he set down his glass of milk, licking his lips to get rid of any excess on his top lip. “Yeah, she uses it in the morning. The body tenses over night so sometimes she finds herself with pain or tenseness in her leg. I did a couple of exercises with her this morning. She’ll be fine by the time we leave.” He said.

“Oh, that makes a lot of sense...I guess it was just surprising to see after she was walking around so well last night.” Roxas said finishing his orange juice. 

“It’s cute how concerned you are about Xion. She’s a tough cookie. Why don’t you take a shower now that you’ve sucked up the remaining alcohol in your stomach. It’ll make you feel better. Plus you smell like a mini bar.” Axel teased, pulling Roxas into a gentle kiss before he got off the bed and headed out the room.

Roxas stuck his tongue out at Axel before he grabbed his dishes and headed out the room and down the stairs where Xion had busied herself with cleaning the dishes from breakfast. 

Axel shooed her away and started cleaning their dishes which made Xion laugh. 

“You look a lot better Roxas!” Xion said wiping her hands on a towel and leaned against the counter.

“Oh thanks, I feel better. I’m gonna head up and take a shower. Where are the towels?” Roxas asked. Xion pointed him to the linen closet down the hall. With a towel in hand, he headed up the stairs and back to the guest bedroom they were staying in.

He looked at the clock that stood on the nightstand and groaned. They had an hour before they needed to be at the venue so Xion and her party (and family members) could take photos. 

Deciding to not waste anymore time, Roxas hopped into the shower quickly, washing off last night's bachelorette party shenanigans. 

Feeling ten times better and a whole lot fresher, he stepped out and quickly dried off his body before getting partially dressed to avoid getting hair product on it. 

It was another thirty minutes before Roxas was happy with his hair and put on the rest of his suit. He headed downstairs, with his shoes hanging off his fingers.

Turning down the hall that lead to the kitchen and living room, Roxas cursed when he tripped over a bag.

“Ugh, whose is this?” He asked knowing all of his and Axel’s stuff was in the guest room.

Xion and Axel peered out from the living room and Xion grabbed the bag and looked at it.

“Oh that belongs to Nami’s friend. He’s gonna watch the house when you guys go home in a couple of days, he must’ve dropped it off before heading to the venue.” She explained grabbing the bag and heading up the stairs with it.

“By the way have you seen my shoes? The white vans?” Xion called over her shoulder.

Roxas shook his head. “Sorry Xion.” He said leaning over and tying his own shoes. 

Xion eventually located her shoes and slipped them on to her feet and the trio made their way to the venue. 

Roxas was amazed by scenery they passed as they drove to the venue. 

The town was small, but it was very clear that most of the families here were well off. Perfectly manicured lawns were surrounded by beautiful garden beds. Some houses were three stories and others had beautiful marble fountains and decor adorning the front of their homes. 

The name Radiant Garden was finally starting to make sense.

“You guys grew up here?” Roxas asked amazed as they passed by some more houses with their perfect lawns and well, radiant gardens. 

His parents had made good money, well enough to create a trust fund for him and even Cloud and Zack were able to pay for braces, his and Sora’s graduation present which was a trip to Disneyland and was able to pay for college and Roxas’ rehab without having to take out a loan. 

But these houses? These houses were the houses Roxas had dreamed of living in as a child. Back when his dreams consisted of being a famous actor. 

“Yeah, Xion and I grew up here. Xion’s house is actually her family home. They retired last year and gave her and Namine the house. You’ll really like them. Aunt Rinoa is super sweet and Uncle Leon is very much like Cloud; stoic and quiet. But he’ll catch you off guard with his humor.” Axel explained as he turned into the venue’s parking lot. 

“Wow, I just. It’s so different from how Twilight Town is, ya know? I would love to live here though. After retirement or something.” Roxas explained as he got out of the car.

They headed inside the venue, making their way to the room that was labeled ‘Xion’ where her parents were waiting for them. 

A taller brunet man with a scar that started just above his right eye and ran diagonally across his nose stood with a woman who just about reached his shoulder. 

“Xion!” the woman said rushing up to the raven-haired woman and wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. When they separated, the woman cupped Xion’s face for a moment before releasing, sniffling. 

They were about the same height and had the same hair color. Though Xion’s eyes matched those of the gentlemen that stood in front of them. 

“Axel.” the man said reaching his hand out to the red head, who gladly shook it when their hands met. 

“Uncle Leon, Aunt Rinoa, I want you to meet my boyfriend Roxas.” Axel said resting his hand in between Roxas’ shoulder blades and gesturing between them. 

Roxas could feel his face flush, not used to being the center of attention but quickly cleared his throat before smiling.. He shook both Rinoa and Leon’s hands before politely telling them, he was happy to meet them. 

“Aw, Axel, he’s so much cuter in person! We’ve heard so much about you Roxas! When Xion mentioned you were attending the wedding, we were thrilled! Axel talks about you all the time when he calls.” Rinoa gushed. 

Roxas gave Axel a look but couldn’t fight the smile that was forcing it’s way onto his face. “Oh, well I hope they were all good things.” he said shyly, taking Axel’s hand to calm himself. It didn’t take much for him to end up embarrassed and being introduce to your boyfriend’s family was definitely embarrassment worthy. 

Leon made a noise that sounded like a chuckle. “Yeah, Xion talks about you a lot too. She mentioned that you two have moved in? How is that going?” he asked. 

Roxas told them about the move and how they had settled into a nice routine after a couple weeks of acclimation to a new place. “It’s really strange because I’ve noticed all these habits that Axel has that I hadn’t noticed before because we weren’t with each other twenty-four, seven. it’s really eye opening, but I’m really happy and Turkey has settled in really well.” he explained. 

Cheers of ‘oh good,’ and ‘that’s amazing!’ were exchanged as the photographer entered the room.

“Alright, I’m ready when you guys are. We’re going to go to the Gazebo out in front of the Venue.” 

They all walked out, following the photographer to their destination. 

Roxas stood behind the photographer and watched as Xion and her parents posed for some portraits. Then Axel stood with Xion and after a few hundred snapshots were taken of them, Rinoa and Leon joined them again and a several more photos were taken. 

“Roxas, come join us,” Xion said waving him over to them. 

“Oh I’m okay, I’m not even family.” he said. 

Xion rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, get in here.” she said.

Roxas’ eyes met with Axel’s and when his boyfriend gave him a reassuring smile, he quickly walked over and stood next to the redhead, arm wrapped around his waist. 

It was over before they knew it and before they headed off to sit in where the ceremony was being handled, Axel and Xion said their goodbyes to Xion, who went to spend time with her family. 

Roxas and Axel took their seats just a few aisles down and got comfortable. 

Just as Roxas went to say something to Axel, he swore there was a flash of raven hair and dark eyes that he was all too acquainted with. 

He quickly looked to where he had seen the familiar face but was unfortunate to locate them. 

“Roxas? Everything okay?” Axel asked looking at the blond concerned. 

“Yeah, I just, I just thought I had seen Vanitas is all.” Roxas explained, making a face as he decided to give up his search. 

Axel raised an eyebrow at him before shaking his head and chuckled. 

“I think you’re just seeing things. There’s literally no reason for Vanitas to be here. And if he was here, I’m sure we could ask Namine and Xion to ask him to leave if he made you too uncomfortable.” Axel promised, taking Roxas’ hand and giving it a squeeze. 

Squeezing back, Roxas got situated on the chair and took out his phone to scroll aimlessly until the ceremony started 

As he scrolled through Twitter, his mind started to wander off to Sora and Riku’s wedding. It was set for Mid-May of the following year and they were already getting some of the bigger components set in stone. 

Riku made it pretty easy for Sora by agreeing to everything he asked, well within reason, so long as he knew Sora was going to be happy about it. 

They had decided on the venue, the kind of cake they wanted and whether or not they wanted to include the tradition of sharing a paopu fruit with each other, a shared tradition from the islands where they had spent most of their summers playing in the sand and water. 

Roxas’ attention was brought back to the wedding, as Namine walked down the aisle, looking gorgeous in her ball gown dress and her blonde hair cascading over her shoulder and down her chest, on one side in soft ringlets and a veil covering her face, 

But the ceremony could only hold his attention for so long before his mind began to wonder again to his own wedding. What would his and Axel’s wedding even look like? Where would they have it at? Would it be a giant wedding? Or a small intimate affair where they had their closest friends and families attend?

Roxas looked up at Axel who was already looking at him with a gentle smile on his face. He returned the smile and rested his head on Axel’s shoulder taking his hand and lacing their fingers. 

He watched as the Xion took Namine’s hand as the officiant started speaking of matrimony and the connection between the two women that brought them all there. As the officiant continued to talk, Roxas mind started to wander, his eyes darting to his and Axel’s linked hands. 

How big of a wedding would he and Axel have? Would it be intimate or grand and beautiful? 

As Axel brought his hand to his lips and kissed it gently, he came to the realization that it didn’t matter if it was giant affair or small. As long as they were together. 

But he personally would like a small affair of their closest friends and family. They’d go somewhere like the beach or something whimsical like a forest, a place where it felt intimate in nature. 

Their colors would match the location too. Tans and pale blue for a beach wedding, forest greens and deep browns for a forest. 

Roxas’ daydreaming was cut short when he heard cheering and he looked over and saw that Namine and Xion were kissing, signaling the end of the ceremony. They started to walk down the aisle and Roxas clapped enthusiastically with the others, though he felt guilty since he missed most of the ceremony.

He smiled sheepishly at Axel who nudged him to stand up so they could head to the ballroom where the reception was being held. 

“Where’d you go off to in there?” Axel asked him as they walked to the ballroom. 

“Oh, I was just thinking about weddings, mainly Sora and Riku’s. I’ve never been in a wedding before.” Roxas lied. He didn’t know if seven months was too soon to be discussing weddings and marriage with his boyfriend. 

He and Vanitas never talked about it in the two years they were together. 

“Ah, well, you didn’t miss a whole lot. It was typical speech and pre-written vows for them. They’ve been together for so long, I think they just wanted the marriage certificate. I do know Xion wanted Namine to feel special today though.” Axel said as he took a seat. 

Roxas nodded, knowing that Namine’s parents hadn’t been the most supportive of her growing up, having kicked her out when she was barely sixteen years old. That was the extent of what he knew though and didn’t feel like really asking. 

He knew Namine was happy now and that’s really all that mattered. 

“Who are we sitting with?” Roxas asked after a moment, noticing the little cards on the plates with their names on them. 

Axel reached over and grabbed one of the cards only to place it back on the plate. “We’re sitting with Reno, his wife Lori, Kairi and Xion’s parents.” He said leaning back just as Kairi arrived. 

“Come on guys, why are you sitting on your butts? Let’s go dance!” Kairi said throwing her hands up in the air and moving her hips back and forth. 

Roxas stood up and pulled Axel up and they walked to the dance floor where a small group of people, Xion and Namine included, started to dance to the music that was playing. 

They danced together, occasionally trading with Xion and Namine and dancing with them. Kairi joined them too, switching between the four of them before being swept away by another guest. 

When a slow song started to play, Roxas was happy to take Axel’s hand and dance with him, their foreheads pressed together as they swayed to the music.

The moment was short lived as the song faded out and into another fast paced song.

“Hey guys, if you’re hungry, the appetizers should be at the tables!” Xion said before she was dragged away by some of her friends. 

Axel shrugged and Roxas followed him back to their table where Leon and Reno were discussing the upcoming football season. 

“Before you sit would you mind getting me something to drink? Root beer if they have it.” Roxas requested, giving Axel a small kiss when his boyfriend leaned down.

He looked between Leon and Reno, half- listening to their conversation as he picked a few things to eat.

Just as he got ready to bite into a mozzarella stick, two people came over and sat next to him. 

They were both older and Roxas could tell they were related to Axel. The man had longer auburn hair and while his eyes weren’t as striking as Axel’s, they were a subtle hazel. 

The woman, presumably his wife, had blonde hair that was pinned up into a nice updo. Her eyes were a stunning shade of dark blue, most likely where Kairi and Reno got their eyes and whereas her husband’s eyes were stern, her eyes were friendly, welcoming.

Roxas could see that Axel took after his mom in his physical appearance. 

“Hello Roxas Strife.” The male said a devious grin on his face.

He felt his face flush and he gave them a polite smile. “Hi? Not to be rude, but who are you?” He asked, which caused Reno and Leon to laugh. 

The older gentleman shot a glare at them and Reno simply waved him off. “Seriously dad? I met him at Axel’s birthday and he didn’t know who I was. Face it, he doesn’t talk about his family.” Reno replied.

Roxas sank into his chair trying to figure out something to say. 

“He does talk about you occasionally, he just doesn’t have any recent photos of you?” He offered weakly. 

Axel had photos of his parents in an old photo album, but most of the pictures were from when they first got together, well before Reno had been born.

“Well, good to know he doesn’t hate us completely. Now, where are manners? My name is Aera and this my husband Genesis.” Aera said motioning to her husband who was still glaring down Roxas.

Roxas shifted trying to discreetly grab his phone and text Axel.

“So Roxas, tell us about what you do for a living.” Genesis said, grabbing a glass of wine from one of the waiters that had passed by.

Clearing his throat, Roxas glanced at Reno and Leon, who both seemed to have gotten the clue and stood up and walked away from the table. He hoped maybe Reno would find Axel.

“I’m a Zoologist. I work the Twilight Town Zoo.” He finally answered, giving them a polite smile.

Roxas heard Genesis shift and he looked over waiting for the next set of questions.

“How did you meet our son?” Genesis asked taking a sip of his wine.

Roxas chewed on his lip and went into detail on how he and Axel met due to a blind date that was set up because of a Riku and Sora. 

More questions were asked, similar to the ones that Cloud and Zack had asked Axel.

“Do tell me Roxas, has Axel mentioned at all his inheritance to our fortune? Even if Reno is the one in charge, Axel is still getting a part of our legacy..” Aera said, a perfectly manicured eyebrow raised at Roxas.

Before Roxas could answer, a familiar hand settled on his shoulder and he looked up and saw Axel.

“I see you have met my parents.” Axel huffed as he came up to the table with Reno and Leon in tow. 

Roxas gave him a sheepish grin and took his hand, lacing their fingers together. 

“Come now, Axel, we were merely having a conversation. You haven’t actually dated anyone since you and Saix broke things off and then we hear from Saix’s parents that no only are you two on better terms but you’re in a relationship with someone? Did you really expect us not to be curious?” Genesis asked setting his wine glass down. 

Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course, did you think that maybe, after what happened with Saix, I didn’t want to introduce you? Maybe I wanted to wait. Have you guys meet Roxas on my terms instead of you guys pushing into my life, like you always do.” he said his voice raising as he spoke. 

Genesis and Aera looked at Axel before looking at each other. Roxas chewed on his lip afraid of what was going to happen. He could see it in Axel’s eyes that he was gearing for a fight. Not one he wanted to particularly start, but Roxas was sure he’d indulge if his parents gave him the chance. 

“Axel, sweetie, what happened with Saix, that wasn’t necessarily our fault.” Aera said reaching for her sons hand. 

Axel scoffed as he pulled away from his mother. “Like hell it wasn’t. You guys specifically took his side. Said I proposed too soon. That I should’ve waited until business was steady. Never mind ignoring the real reason he and I broke up.” he seethed. 

Just as Aera went to say something, Xion walked up and put a hand on Axel’s shoulder before giving him a soft smile. “Namine is in the changing room, will you two meet her in there please? There’s someone she wants you guys to meet.” she said 

Axel didn’t say another word just helped Roxas up off his chair and headed in the direction of the green room. 

Roxas could hear Xion berating her aunt and uncle, giving them an earful of how they needed to respect Axel’s wishes to do things his own way. He’d have to ask Axel about what happened with his parents and Saix, but for now, he’d have to wait. 

He looked up at Axel as they approached the small green room where Namine had requested they meet her at. 

It was filled with the bands equipment and what looked to be her wedding dress. She had worn a more simple, yet elegant dress for the reception. 

“Namine?” Axel called out from behind him and Roxas looked to right where Namine had emerged. 

“Hey guys! Sorry for sending Xion out there to find you, I had to find Vani.” She said. 

Vani? As in Vanitas?!

Roxas took a deep breath. There was no way. Absolutely, no way, his past and present had merged together to become his reality.

“Oh is he the friend you wanted us to meet?” Axel asked slipping an arm around Roxas’ shoulder.

Namine nodded silently, the smile on her face one of pure joy. 

“Yeah! Vani, come here I want you to meet Axel and Roxas.” Namine said gesturing to the two.

Roxas could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest, the speed growing with each passing second.

From what must’ve been a bathroom or another part of the green room, emerged Roxas’ ex, Vanitas.

Roxas’ body went stiff as his hands and face started to go numb. Ringing started in his ears, soft after first before crescendoing into a deafening tone. His heart was racing, pounding hard in his chest and he felt like he was going to pass out.

Every fight, every slap against his face, punch, kick to his stomach, every cruel word Vanitas said to him. Every time he forced him to shoot up, smoke weed which always lead to rounds of fighting, hit him in the face like a wave.

Roxas’ breathing grew heavy as he tried to back out of the room as Vanitas looked at him concerned his hand reaching out to him.

How he got outside by Xion’s car was beyond him. All he knew was that he saw red and then black before reality started to shift back and he was staring down at asphalt with remnants of the food they had eaten.

“Roxas!” He heard his name, but couldn’t make out the voice, his hearing still fuzzy from the panic attack he just had.

He closed his eyes tight, trying to focus on his breathing. A familiar, comforting scent filled his nostrils and the warmth of Axel’s hand started to calm him. 

“Are you okay?” Axel asked him, which Roxas shook his head, certain that his voice would fail him if he tried to speak.

He wrapped his arms around Axel, burying his face into his chest and let out a heartbreaking sob, tears building in his eyes and rolling down his face as he cried. “I hope I didn’t ruin their wedding, I didn’t know he’d be here, I just, I didn’t know and I wasn’t ready to see him and God, I hope I didn’t say anything stupid.” he cried, the panic rushing through him, causing his heart to race and his face to flush a deep red, almost a purple. 

Axel rubbed his back, whispering gentle words into his ear, mainly asking to follow his breathing and to listen to his heartbeat. “It’s gonna be okay Roxas, you’re okay, you’re safe.” he whispered. 

Another sob ripped through his chest and he gripped onto Axel’s tuxedo jacket harder, afraid his shaking knees would give out. 

“I-I, wanna g-go home. I-I wanna sssee Tu-urkey.” he whimpered against Axel’s chest, a headache starting to form. 

“Roxas!” Xion called and he heard several feet stomping towards them. 

He shoved his face into Axel’s chest, whimpering, afraid of all who could coming his way. 

“It’s okay, it’s just Xion and Namine.” Axel ran a hand through Roxas’ hair gently. 

“Is everything okay?” Xion asked, resting a comforting hand on Roxas’ shoulder. 

Axel jumped right into an explanation of Roxas’ panic attack and how Vanitas’ presence had triggered the attack. 

“I am so sorry Roxas, I didn’t know.” Namine said, her dark blue eyes starting to fill with tears as she leaned into Xion. 

Roxas was starting to come down from his attack and he quickly shook his head. “I-its okay. You didn’t know.” he whispered, his voice hoarse. 

Namine gave him a sad smile before kissing the side of his head. “Go to the house and get some rest.” she said softly before looking at Axel. 

“Are you guys gonna be okay with out the car?” Axel asked. 

“Mhm, Kairi’s going to give us a ride to the airport.” Xion said. 

Once they said their good-byes, Axel helped Roxas into Xion’s car, placing the blanket she kept in her trunk around his shoulders. 

The ride was a quiet one minus the soft sniffles and held back sobs that came from Roxas.

Axel had placed his hand on top of Roxas’ gently rubbing circles against his skin, hoping to calm him down some more during the ten minute drive.

As soon as they arrived at Xion and Namine’s home, Axel started a bath for Roxas and helped him out of his suit before he got into the shower. Once he was out of the shower, he crawled onto the bed and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders.

“Axel?” Roxas called out. 

“Coming, my love.” Axel said walking into the bedroom, already dressed in pajamas.

Roxas gave him a small smile and snuggled into Axel, once he was settled into the bed.

“I’m sorry.” Roxas sighed shakily.

“No need to be sorry babe, you didn’t know he would be there and your body reacted in the way it thought it needed to react. Xion and Namine aren’t mad at you.” Axel promised pressing a kiss to Roxas’ shoulder.

Roxas didn’t say anything, just snuggled more into his boyfriend. “I love you.” He whispered.

Axel smiled wrapping his arms around Roxas, burying his face into Roxas’ damp hair. “I love you too.”

——

The next morning Roxas had once again woken up with a migraine and the smell of eggs and bacon.

He looked at his phone to find a few messages from Sora and Riku, most of the messages, just pictures of Turkey snuggled up with Sora. 

Roxas tossed the blankets off his body and headed down the stairs where Axel was busy making breakfast. 

“Oh hey. Good morning sleeping beauty.” Axel teased pushing the glass of water and Tylenol in front of Roxas.

“Hey. Thanks.” Roxas took the meds and washed them down with the water.

Comfortable silence between them as Axel cooked their breakfast and Roxas looked through his phone, commenting on pics from the wedding and saving the ones of him and Axel.

Just as he went to show Axel what happened to be his favorite picture of them; they were both dancing and Axel was looking at Roxas like he was the greatest thing in the world, the doorbell rang.

He looked at Axel who had two plates in his hand. He set the plates down before heading to the front door to see who it could be.

Roxas followed him, standing a few feet behind him and when Axel opened the door, his heart started to race upon seeing Vanitas. 

“Hi, what are you doing here?” Axel asked.

Vanitas scratches the back of his neck and Roxas felt kind of sorry for his ex. 

“I’m here to pick up some of my clothes and to give this to Roxas, I didn’t want to stop by after what happened last night. I feel like my presence would’ve made things worse for him.” Vanitas handed an envelope to Axel.

Axel took the envelope before speaking. “I’ll go grab your bag. Roxas and I are heading to the airport in a couple of hours, so you’ll have the house to yourself.” He said.

Vanitas didn’t say anything just nodded as he took a step back.

Shutting the door, Axel turned to Roxas and handed him the envelope before heading upstairs to grab Vanitas’ stuff for him.

Roxas watched him before opening the envelope and pulling out a letter. It smelled like Vanitas; like pine trees and nature. For some reason, it felt comforting to Roxas.

He unfolded the letter and started to read;

_Roxas,_

_I know it’s been almost five years since things ended between us and I am so sorry that our reunion, if you’d call it that, resulted with you in a panicked state._

_I don’t expect forgiveness for how things were when we were together. I was awful to you. There was and still is no excuse for the abuse I put you through. A few years of therapy and rehab has taught me that._

_I would like to say though, I am sorry Roxas._

_You, more than anyone, deserve at least an apology from me and I am more than happy to give that to you._

_—Vani_

Tears started to hit the paper and Roxas’ bottom lip was quivering as he fought back sobs.

An apology. It’s all he ever wanted from Vanitas. 

Staring at the door, he let out a shaky breath before he headed towards it and swung it open and launched himself at Vanitas. He wrapped his arms around Vanitas’ shoulders and buried his face into his shoulder. 

Vanitas stood stunned, arms up a little as he stared at Axel who was standing in the doorway with his bag. 

“Thank you.” He heard muffled against his coat. 

When the shock wore off, he wrapped his around Roxas’ and held him.

Roxas was the first to pull away, wiping at his eyes and let out a shaky laugh. “Sorry, I just. Thank you Vanitas. Seriously.” He nodded, chewing on his lip before he turned on the balls of his feet and headed back inside. 

He looked at Axel pulling him down for a kiss before going to sit back down on the couch and reread the letter Vanitas had sent him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry if there's any spelling or grammar errors. I got tired of looking at this chapter and just decided to yeet into the void. Let me know whatcha guys think.


	12. Rewrite the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: heavy alcohol use and some physical abuse? (it's not... abuse, per se. but someone puts their hands on someone else. that's all I'll say)

Things had finally started to settle down for Roxas and Axel after Namine and Xion’s wedding. 

Roxas had gone to see his therapist and talked to her about seeing Vanitas after five years and how he was dealing with his panic attacks. She gave him some tips on how to handle his anxiety better and promised him that she would give him the papers he needed to make Turkey his emotional support animal.

He was also busy helping Sora with last minute details for his wedding, which was just a few weeks away, nestled at the end of September. He had been doing some wedding research on bachelor party ideas, since he was in charge and couldn’t figure out what to do for Sora’s big night. 

Axel and Riku were going to a concert and dinner with some of their friends, and while that sounded like a blast, Roxas didn’t know if there were any bands playing that he and Sora liked.

After couple weeks of researching clubs, calls that were back and forth with Sora and Riku’s other friends, Roxas finally settled on renting out a party bus that would serve as double-duty for the evening. The plan was for the bus to drop Axel and Riku, as well as their friends at a concert while Roxas, Sora and their mutual friends, would go clubbing. 

Roxas leaned back in the chair and sighed, happy that he could start to relax now that the bachelor party was planned and one less thing to 

Just as he was about to get out of his chair, the front door opened and Axel walked in with the mail in hand. 

“Hey babe, I wasn’t expecting you home for lunch!” Roxas said standing up to greet his boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around his waist and buried his face into chest. “Sora’s gonna be here in about an half hour, do you wanna wait and have him pick something up for you? We’re going to that new Sushi place.” 

Axel wrapped one arm around him for a moment before looking through the mail he had picked up on the way into the house. 

“Yeah, wanted to stop by and say hi before I headed out for lunch. Oh, no thank you love, I have lunch plans with a new client.” Axel explained, his voice trailed off as he tossed most of the mail on the counter, but his attention was on one of the letters that was addressed to Roxas Sanderson.

“What is this? And why does it have my last name after your first name?” He asked. 

Roxas looked at the envelope and started to examine it, trying to determine where it came from. He opened it quickly and pulled it out and his face started to flush with embarrassment. 

“Right, while I was looking for things to do for Sora’s bachelor party and I found a really nice couple’s massage package at Destiny Islands, I’ll have to show you later, it comes with a bunch of really neat stuff. I ordered one for Riku and Sora as a wedding gift; your computer must have auto-filled your info when I was filling out the billing info, anyway I didn’t even notice.” Roxas explained, tucking the papers back into the envelope and into the wedding binder he had carried around with him since the wedding crunch started a month ago. 

Axel raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips as he nodded, staring at the pink binder. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed the photobooth photos from his birthday party were slipped behind the plastic sleeve. 

He glanced at Roxas who gave him a smile. “I see.”

Roxas grinned and wrapped his arms around Axel’s waist. “Yeah, besides, I’d want you to take my name if we got married.” he said leaning up and kissing Axel quickly before turning into the kitchen to start searching through the cabinets. 

Axel could feel his heart started to pound heavily into his chest at the words. My last name, when we get married, echoed through his head. Had they discussed getting married? He had told Roxas about his engagement to Saix, but there was never really any discussion about them getting married. His eyes darted to the wedding binder and stared at it, thinking it over. Roxas had occupied himself with helping Sora and Riku with the planning of the wedding. But did it end there or was he planning their wedding as well? Did he think Axel didn’t want a say in what happened?

Patting down his pockets, Axel made sure he still had his keys and phone before turning to leave.   
“You leaving already?” Roxas asked looking at him sadly.

“Yup.” Axel managed, although he could feel his throat closing around the syllable.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna make chicken fettuccine for dinner. Does that sound good?” he asked. 

“Yeah, sure, whatever, it’s not like I have a choice in the matter.” Axel said before storming out of the house and slamming the door behind him. 

Roxas stared at where Axel had stood before and leaned back against the counter and recountered their conversation. Was it something he said? Axel was never that short with him, no matter how mad he got. 

He went quickly to the table and snatched up his phone and sent out a message to Axel. 

Roxas: “Babe, did I do something?” 

Nothing but silence for a few minutes. 

After the fifth minute passed, Roxas dialed Axel’s number and waited for him to answer. 

Unfortunately, Axel had denied to call halfway through the second ring. 

Roxas licked his lips before dialing Sora’s number. Sora picked up almost immeaditely. 

“Hullo?” Sora asked. 

“Hey, how soon can you be here?” Roxas asked. 

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. He heard some shuffling and Sora telling someone he was going to lunch. 

“Depends on how soon is soon, what’s going on?” Sora asked. Roxas could hear the concern in Sora’s voice; he must’ve sounded more upset than he’s realized.

Roxas bit his lip before he started to speak, thinking over exactly what happened. “I think… I think I upset Axel and I’m not entirely sure how. He left in a hurry and now he won’t answer my calls or texts. I was hoping maybe you can help me? See if there was something went over my head or something?” 

“Axel can be weird sometimes, just give me a play by play of what happened and I’ll see if I can’t narrow down the issue okay?” Sora asked. 

Roxas could hear the jangle of keys as Sora headed out to his car. He sighed, running his free hand through his hair before jumping into the brief confrontation, purposefully leaving out the spa package. 

“I’m guessing he’s stressed about this new client? It’s so out of character for him to act so cold and distant with me. I don’t know, I was just hoping you could come over so I could show you the plans and we can get started on the goodie bags for the parties.” he sighed. 

He could hear Sora chuckle on the other line. 

“Take a deep breath Rox, snuggle with Turkey so he can help you calm your nerves. Axel’s probably just stressed as you said, he doesn’t usually take new clients this time of the year. Mix that in with the wedding coming up, he’s probably just feeling a little stressed. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I’m heading out now, you still want that sushi place?” Sora asked. 

“Yeah, get me crab rolls?” Roxas requested. 

“You got it, bud. I’ll be there soon. I wouldn’t worry about it, Rox. Axel’s probably just nervous. He probably didn’t even realize his tone. Anyway, I’ll be there soon.” 

They hung up and Roxas went to the couch where Turkey (wearing his blue collar) curled up onto his chest and nuzzled against Roxas’ chin. 

“Hi buddy, I know, he’s just nervous and a little stressed. Once the wedding is over, we’ll be back to normal,” he promised. At least, he hoped things would be back to normal. 

\---

Sora winced when he saw how long the line was to the new sushi place. Thankfully Riku had suggested ordering ahead so he could just go up to the counter and grab it and go. Unfortunately, five people ahead of him had had the same brilliant idea and the pickup line was just as crowded as the order line.

He texted Roxas to let him know he’d be a little late since it was so crowded. 

Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked around watching as people continued to get in line. As he shuffled ahead towards the counter, he saw a head of very familiar red hair. 

He narrowed his eyes when he realized that Axel was with someone with blue hair, and they seemed to be holding hands.

Was Axel cheating on Roxas?

Sora didn’t-- no, couldn’t believe that Axel would cheat on Roxas. But maybe, maybe that’s why he’d been so short with Roxas that morning. He was having an affair and didn’t have the decency to end things with Roxas.

He lost sight of them as Axel and the blue-haired stranger were taken away to be seated further in the restaurant, and Sora moved ahead in line again, thoughts troubled.  
Sora had to talk to Riku before talking to Roxas about this. 

As soon as it was his turn, he grabbed the food and headed out to his car. Once inside he called Riku and left a message, giving him the rundown of what he had seen. 

Once he was done with his message, he started his car and drove to Roxas and Axel’s place.

Heading inside, he found Roxas curled up on the couch with Turkey on his chest. They were both sound asleep.

Sora sighed placing their food in the fridge and went to wake up his cousin.

“Rox. Wake up.” He shook Roxas until he started to stir. 

“Mm. Oh, hey!” Roxas said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. “Didn’t hear you come in, sorry.”

“Sup bro. Sushis in the fridge.” Sora mentioned gesturing behind him.

Roxas nodded, picking up Turkey and placing him on the couch before standing up. 

“I’m surprised it didn’t take very long. You want anything to drink?” He asked as he grabbed their food from the fridge.

“Yeah, water is fine.” Sora replied, busy focusing on his phone.

Roxas grabbed two bottles of water and set them in the counter, and grabbed some plates to separate their sushi. 

“So I was thinking we could look for some stuff for your bachelor party. I finally got everything set up and reserved. We’re gonna take a bus that will drop off Riku and his friends at the concert venue while we go have fun at the clubs. Once the concert is over, I hope to regroup on the bus and head to that club you and Riku..” He explained.

Sora just hummed, as he grabbed his chopsticks and started to eat. He couldn’t get the image of Axel and that other man out of his head, and he was trying to wrap his head around it all. It felt like he must’ve missed something somewhere along the line.

After a couple minutes of eating, Sora set his chopsticks down. “What exactly did you say Axel got mad at you for?” He asked. 

Roxas took a sip of his water before speaking, “I got some mail and it had his last name instead of mine. He asked me what it was, I explained that it was just a typo. Then I made a joke that if we got married I would want him to take my name. That’s when he started acting odd, and when I asked him if he was ok with chicken for dinner he said something about not having a choice before he stormed out,” He shrugged. “I guess he’s just having a bad day, but he doesn’t usually snap at me like that.”

Sora looked thoughtful, his mouth grimaced as he poked at his sushi. He couldn’t get what he saw while he was waiting off his mind, but he had to talk to Riku first. He didn’t want to jump the gun and end up being wrong.

“Maybe, he’s just having a bad day and that piece of mail just caught him off guard? You said he’s been touchy about marriage stuff before. I’m sure once he gets home, he’ll probably apologize. You said he was meeting with a new client right? Maybe he’s just nervous about it.” He reaches over and gave Roxas’ hand a squeeze.

“You’re probably right. I’ll let him know it was only a joke and that I didn’t mean to upset him..” Roxas returned the squeeze.

“Now tell me about these bachelor plans.”

—

 

On the other side of town, Axel had his head in his hands as he recounted the morning’s confrontation. Saix gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, providing him with quiet support as he talked it all out. 

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to tell him no, it’s never going to happen, because I’m sure it will one day, just not anytime soon. And the fact that he just assumed that it was gonna happen, maybe soon, and the mail didn’t even phase him. I don’t even care about that, I just feel like I’m being wrapped up into something I’m not ready for.” 

He sighed and forced himself to take a deep breath. He bit the side of his lip and looked up at Saix, waiting for his response. Saix was usually the more level headed one of them, and always knew what to do or say

Saix gave him a soft, sad smile, squeezing his shoulder again before letting his hand drop into his lap. “I think you’re a little overwhelmed. One, you have the bachelor party and the wedding coming up in what, three days? Two, you and I have been reconnecting over the past few weeks and while it’s been good to reconnect, I know it can still be stressful, given everything we’ve been through/ And on top of that you’re gaining new clients, which is another emotional and physical drain on your energy. I think you’re just getting burned out and it’s affecting how you see your relationship,” he explained. He sat back and smiled asTerra came up with their food. 

“What’s going on?” Terra asked as he took a seat and handed them their box lunches. Saix gave him an appreciative peck on the cheek before picking up his chopsticks.

“Axel’s having relationship troubles. You should talk to Terra about it,” he suggested to Axel, who was staring glumly at his sushi rolls. “He’s a couples therapist after all, and might be able o give you some advice.” Saix gaveTerra an affectionate smile. 

“I wouldn’t mind helping at all, Axel. Seriously, you’re taking me as a client when you’re currently not taking clients, it’s really the least I can do,” Terra offered. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

Axel licked his lips before diving into the full story of what had happened with Roxas, starting with Roxas’ recent dive into wedding stuff and how he was adamant about helping Sora plan his wedding and bachelor party. He told them about the mail he found with his last name in place of Roxas’ and how it sent a surge of anxiety through him. He recounted the small fight where he snapped at his boyfriend and then refused to take his calls. 

Terra chewed on his sushi thoughtfully as he listened to Axel’s story. When Axel had finished, he took a quick drink before responding. “I do agree with Saix, you may be overwhelmed. From what Saix has told me of your family and your past relationship with Saix, I’m guessing that it’s more about your lack of agency in the decision and less about the whole marriage thing itself. Your parents used to be super controlling right?” he asked. 

Axel leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, then sighed when Saix gave him a look. “Yeah,” he answered. 

Terra nodded. “And Saix, though much better about talking about his feelings, made you feel like if you were unhappy with things, he would leave, which lead you to the decision to ask him to marry you right?” he asked. 

Axel let out another huff of air, not liking having his past aired out like he was. “Essentially, yes,” he said waving his hand as if swatting away Terra’s words. 

Terra gave him an amused look before lacing his hands together and leaning against his arms. “I think you’re letting yourself get into this mental war of ‘I don’t wanna do what he says’ versus ‘If I don’t do what he wants, he’s going to leave me.’ Does that sound about right?” 

Axel looked at Terra and slowly nodded his head. He did feel that way. He didn’t want to get married just because Roxas wanted to. He didn’t want things to change between them, he wanted them to stay as they were; happy and carefree. He wanted to be at home and snuggle with Roxas while Turkey laid on them. But he also was afraid that if he told Roxas the truth, Roxas would think that he wasn’t committed to “them.” And then Roxas would leave him and he’d be alone again. 

“Didn’t you say that Roxas was abused by his ex, Axel?” Saix asked pulling him out of thoughts. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, his ex was super abusive, gaslit, and groomed him. Got him addicted to drugs, slapped him around, physically and emotionally abused him,” Axel said. grabbing his chopsticks and picking up a piece of the sushi and dipping it into the wasabi sauce that was laid out in front of him, “Why?” 

Saix shook his head. “I wondered if he was like this with Vanitas, or if his obsession with weddings started once he realized his relationship with you is more stable. Not saying your relationship isn’t healthy or that you guys won’t one day get married, just wondering if this is a pattern for him, or if he feels comfortable enough around you to be open about his plans for the future. From the sounds of it, it could be a number of things.” 

Terra nodded. “Unfortunately, I don’t have Roxas here to tell me details about his history or his feelings on things as they are now, so I could be way off base here. However, I do think you should talk to Roxas about your feelings on getting married. Especially now while he has the wedding craze implemented in his head. I can almost guarantee that he’s probably just really excited about the wedding, and he might be considering how your own big day might go.. Communication is a really important aspect of any relationship.” 

Axel considered his words before nodding. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll talk to him about it tonight. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.”

With that major weight off his mind, Axel steered the rest of their conversation over lunch into learning more about Terra’s injuries. Once their lunch was finished, they made their way to Axel’s office.

Work for Axel went by slowly, and he kept glancing up at the clock, hoping that if he kept checking it would go faster. He’d been thinking about how to broach the subject with Roxas, and now that he had a plan in mind, he just wanted to get home and get it done. He practically ran out the door when his last patient of the day called to cancel due family emergency, and he closed up early for the day.

But before he went home, he stopped at the flower shop across from his office. Marluxia looked up and grinned as Axel wandered over to their bouquets.

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Marluxia scoffed as Axel was browsing through their flower arrangements. 

“What kind of flowers say “sorry”?” Axel asked, unperturbed by Marluxia’s quip.

Marluxia raised a pink eyebrow. “Trouble in paradise?” he asked.

Axel shrugged, then turned back to the flower case. “Something like that.” 

Marluxia chuckled and went to the fridge where they held premade flower bouquets. He pointed out some of the items on display as he spoke

“Usually roses, mainly red and yellow, but Roxas seems like a red rose kind of guy.” Marluxia explained as he started rearranging the roses.

Axel watched him artfully arrange the blossoms in a colorful display, wondering if this would be enough or if Roxas would still be upset once he’d explained everything. As Marluxia brought the arrangement over to the counter, Axel reached into his pocket to grab his wallet. Marluxia shook his head, and slid the arrangement towards him.

“On the house friend. Go make up with your boyfriend. He’s a good kid and has a big heart and he definitely loves you. And I know you love him.”

“Yeah, I do. Thanks man. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow?” Axel asked. 

“I’ll try not to be late, but we’re doing the flowers for Sora and Riku, so no guarantees.” Marluxia warned. “Good luck with Roxas.”

Axel gave him a thumbs up before heading out the door and towards home. 

The drive home allowed him to review what he was gonna say and how he wanted to say it. He did need to talk to Roxas more about his and Saix’s relationship, and how the botched engagement had really messed with his views on getting married.

He arrived home and headed inside to find a note on the counter, saying dinner was in the fridge. He set the flowers on the counter and pulled dinner out of the fridge, then stuck it in the microwave to get dinner warmed up for himself. Then he picked up the flowers and followed the sounds of the television to look for Roxas.

Axel found him curled up on the couch and fast asleep, the Netflix show still going on in the background. Turkey was curled up right next to him, his little head resting on Roxas’ stomach. Axel smiled at the scene, feeling his heart swell. He really did love him-- both of them.

Moving to the couch, Axel knelt down and gently shook Roxas awake. “Hey baby, I’m home,” he said.

Roxas groaned before sitting up and rubbing his eyes before looking at Axel. “You’re home early,” he yawned, then rubbed his eyes again.

“Yeah, last patient cancelled due to personal emergency. Here, I got these for you.” Axel handed him the bouquet. 

Roxas’ eyes lit up and he buried his nose in the fragrant flowers. “These are amazing, what are they for?” he asked.

“Oh, to say sorry for earlier. I handled that situation poorly.” Axel explained. 

Roxas hummed before setting the flowers down on the coffee table and pulling Axel into a hug. “No worries, I forgive you. And look, babe, earlier, what I said? It was meant to be a joke. I’m sorry if it upset you, I just thought it was funny. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate and I just wanted to see you smile.” he pulled away and cupped the sides of Axel’s neck and rubbed his jaw gently. 

Axel smiled leaning in and pressed a gentle kiss to Roxas’ mouth. Everything seemed okay for now. They could discuss feelings later, when the excitement had settled down. 

“I forgive you too.” 

\---

The past few days were spent fretting over bachelor party goodies, making sure extra expenses were poured into their accounts for the party, and Sora worrying about last minute details for their night out before the big day. 

The evening of the bachelor parties found Sora and Riku in the house for the first time together in what seemed like forever. 

“Hey, come here,” Riku said, pulling Sora against him as they moved around the kitchen.. He leaned down, burying his face into Sora’s neck and taking a deep breath. “I feel like I haven’t seen you all week,” he mumbled. 

Sora laughed as he wrapped his arms around Riku’s waist and kissed behind his ear. “I know, it’s been crazy, who’d have thought getting married would be so exhausting?” Sora sighed, content, but then leaned back when he realized they really hadn’t had a chance to talk all week. “I never got to tell you what happened!” he said, pulling away from Rikuso he could see his face. 

Riku sat up and moved his hands over Sora’s neck and shoulders before moving to his biceps. “True, you didn’t. Tell me now.” He gave Sora his undivided attention. 

Sora bit his lip before sighing. “So Roxas and Axel got into a fight about some envelope that had Roxas’ first name but Axel’s last name on it? I don’t even remember now, but it caused this huge misunderstanding. So I went over there to hang out like we planned. But when I went to go grab lunch, the line was really long and I got stuck in line. While I was standing in line waiting for my order, I saw Axel.” 

Riku’s eyebrow furrowed for a moment. 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah! And that’s not all. At first it wasn’t odd because Roxas said he was meeting with a client, so I didn’t think anything of it until I saw him with this guy with blue hair. The guy was like touching his arm and was leaning in all close to him. It seemed kind of intimate to me,” Sora made a face.

Riku’s frown deepened as he looked at Sora. “Blue hair? Did you get a good look at his face? Because that sounds like Saix, Axel’s ex,” he said. 

Sora’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean the ex? The one who showed up to his house when he wasn’t home and spoke with Roxas?” he asked. 

Riku nodded, gently pushing Sora away so he could pace while he pondered over everything..

“Yeah, they’ve been seeing each other off and on…” he said, then shook his head at Sora’s shocked expression.”Not romantically, Saix is engaged to this guy named Terra. Ithink Axel really likes him. Again, not romantically, just thinks he’s a good fit for Saix. But if they were seen having lunch and you said it seemed intimate?” he paused and looked at Sora, who gave him a nod.

“Hmm.” Riku hummed, tapping his finger against his chin. 

“Demyx told me they’ve always had a rocky relationship. They broke up and got back together a lot in high school, and didn’t start going steady until college. But Saix started cheating on Axel when they both graduated and got jobs.. Demyx had to do some serious damage control,” Riku stopped in the middle of the kitchen and was intently staring at the floor. 

He was silent before he started speaking again, “I wonder if this is happening again. I can’t imagine it is though. He may have been having lunch with Terra too and you just didn’t see him there when you saw Axel and Saix. I’ll talk to Axel tonight and get some insight,” he promised, then walked over to put his arms around Sora’s waist. “Just whatever you do, don’t say anything to Roxas before I know what’s going on for sure okay? I’d hate for this to be a misunderstanding that we accidentally make worse..” He looked at Sora, who laughed. 

“You’re so serious all the time. No worries though, I promise I won’t say anything until we know for sure,” Sora said before grabbing Riku’s shirt to pull him close. He grabbed the back of his neck to pull him down for a kiss. 

“I can’t wait for all of this to be over,” he said when they parted, “I just want to be on our honeymoon and not have to worry about the drama for a while.” 

“Hm, I know. It’ll be a nice break.” Riku leaned down and captured Sora’s mouth in another kiss. 

8 o’ clock rolled around as did the party bus Roxas had rented for the night. Its first trip was going to take Riku, Zexion, Demyx, Axel, Marluxia, and Xigbar to a Depeche Mode concert. While they were enjoying the concert, Sora, Roxas, Tidus, Waaka, and Hayner were going to one of Sora’s favorite clubs to dance the night away. Once the concert was over, both groups would meet up at Riku’s favorite club to finish the night off. 

Sora grinned as he handed off the bachelor party goodie bags (filled with a hangover kit: motrin, excedrin, gift card to Moogle Cafe and mini bottles of pedialyte and Gatorade) to everyone as they got settled into the bus, excitement buzzing as the bus took off. 

“Remember when you wanted to be a stripper Roxas?” Sora asked as he ran his hand down the pole that was stationed in the middle of the bus. 

Roxas felt his face flush as Xigbar gave him a shot glass and a teasing smirk. 

“Really?” Axel asked raising an eyebrow at Roxas before thanking Xigbar for his own shot. 

Roxas sank into his seat and quickly took the shot, shivering as the alcohol warmed him. “To be fair, I was sixteen and mad at the world because my parents were dead and I hated my uncles,” he shrugged. 

Axel just threw his head back and laughed, slapping his hand against his thigh. “No worries, I remember being a teen and having some serious angst,” he said handing his shot glass to Xigbar for another shot. 

“Axel almost got arrested for smoking underage because we were smoking weed under the bleachers during a football game and he managed to punch one of the cops,” Demyx said, smirking at Roxas, then yelped when Axel pinched his arm. 

The ride to the small club-restaurant that Riku and his friends were going to for their concert was a fun filled one. Everyone had another round of shots, music played loudly, more stories were told, and some of the girls started to dance. 

It wasn’t long before the arrived at the concert venue and Riku’s party exited the bus. “Drink lots of water in between drinks, don’t accept drinks from random patrons, and please make sure to eat something,” Riku said, turning to Roxas and pointinga threatening finger at him. “Make sure he does all those things. I want my fiance to come home in one piece.” 

Roxas gave him a salute asRiku leaned down to give Sora one last kiss, then headed into the venue. Roxas could hear Riku’s friends giving him grief for taking too long as the bus pulled away. 

“That’s so sweet!” Yuna said as she leaned into Tidus. 

Sora just beamed as the bus door closed and they were once again on the move. This time the bus was a lot more lively, as everyone was able to spread out and have more room. 

“I can’t believe you’re getting married, Sora!” Selphie said as she grabbed some beers and handed them off to Hayner and Pence. 

“Right? You guys have been together for so long, it feels like you guys are already married. It’s really hard to believe that you’re not,” Waaka said. 

Sora just shrugged as he took a drink of his own beer. “I guess so? I guess it just feels like it’s been that long,” he said holding out his hand and admiring his engagement ring. 

“I can remember the first day you realized you had feelings for Riku. You came into my room and wouldn’t leave me alone until I sat there and listened to you gush over how amazingly cute your best friend was. Three long months, I had to listen to you groan and pine after him until I told you to get over it and ask him out. An entire summer wasted.” Roxas teased as Sora leaned over and smacked his arm. 

Sora crossed his arm and pouted before exploding into a fit of giggles.

“What about you Roxas? When are you and Axel gonna get married?” Olette asked with a smirk. She had been his first friend other than Sora and Riku when he moved to Twilight Town after his parents passed away. She was always a friendly, assertive girl who pushed his buttons at times, but always had his best intentions in mind. 

“Ya know, I’m not sure,” Roxas scratched at the back of his neck and leaned back against his seat, “It’s kind of a touchy subject?” he said. 

Everyone gave him a collective ‘aww’ before Yuna chimed in again. “I’m sure he just doesn’t think it’s the right time, I’m sure once he feels ready, he’ll ask you when you least expect it.” She gave him a reassuring smile. 

They arrived at Hollow Bastion club a few moments later and they all piled out and headed inside. Roxas informed the bus driver ot be back at 11, which was when they were all planning on heading to Riku’s favorite club. 

“Let’s get this party started!” Sora cried before heading inside to start their festivities. 

They ordered shots and food to chase it down, something to help them absorb some of the alcohol they’d already had on the way over. Appetizers were quickly devoured, and another round of shots were ordered. . 

Kairi, Ollette, Selphie, Sora, and Yuna all went out on the dance floor, dancing along with the music. Roxas eventually joined them, as did Pence and Hayner. Wakka wasn’t much for dancing, so he stayed to watch purses and coats while monitoring the foods and drinks. 

\---

Axel and Riku headed outside during the concert intermission to get some fresh air and away from sweaty bodies. 

Riku felt his phone vibrating and quickly answered it once he realized it was Sora. “Hi baaaabe,” he drew out as he leaned against the wall. 

He listened intently to what Sora was saying as Axel grabbed a pack of cigarettes and lit one up, holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment before releasing the smoke out of the air. 

He watched his best friend talking to his fiance, taking in the slightly drunken, goofy smile. “So-ra, listen to me, you have to drink water. Promise me you’ll drink water. When we get to the next club you can have as much alcohol as your body can handle, okay? For now, I want you to get some water and some food too. It’s important to stay hydrated while you drink. Okay, yes, Yeah, lemme talk to Roxas.” 

Axel perked up a bit at the mention of Roxas and couldn’t help but laugh when Riku started to lecture him about keeping Sora hydrated and making sure he had more to eat than just the pretzels they had served at the bar. 

Once there had been reassurance that Roxas was in fact making sure he was eating more than just pretzels, Riku asked to speak with Sora once more. 

Axel chuckled, taking another drag of the cigarette as Riku said his goodbyes to Sora. He hung up and let out a loving sigh.

“I love him so much. I can’t believe I’m marrying my best friend tomorrow,” Riku said, turning to face Axel. His happy demeanor changed to concern. His eyebrows furrowed. “You’re smoking again.”

It wasn’t a question, just a statement. If Axel didn’t know Riku was drunk, he assumed it would’ve been more accusatory.

He shrugged taking another drag before putting it out and tossing it in the trash bin. “I’ve been kind of stressed.”

Riku nodded, crossing his arms against his chest as he started to listen intently. “Roxas?” 

Axel just shrugged. “It’s a number of things,” he said.

“What are you intentions with Roxas?” Riku asked. 

“I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that,” Axel stated. What were his intentions with Roxas? After 7 months, he felt it was pretty clear what his intentions were. They were in a relationship. A healthy one, despite the most recent drama that occurred. What relationship didn’t have some sort of conflict? He was sure even Riku and Sora’s seemingly perfect relationship had flaws. 

“I mean, what are your intentions? Your plans for the future? Do you want to marry him?” Riku elaborated.

The last question struck a sharp chord and Axel tensed for a moment before rolling the tension off his shoulders.

“I don’t know. It’s still early to tell what’s gonna happen,” he answered. His phone began to vibrate so he looked down, but he could feel Riku’s disapproving stare.

Riku crossed his arms and looked at the sky. “Sora saw you with Saix. What was that about?” He asked not turning away from the stars above.

Axel looked at his best friend before taking one last drag from his cigarette and snubbing it and throwing it away.

“His fiancé has runners knee from when he played college football. We met for lunch so we could discuss a treatment plan. He’s a new client,” he explained.

Riku hummed. “He said Saix was touching your arm and it looked intimate. Is there something else going on? Are you lying to me?” he asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

Axel knew Riku was drunk, but didn’t understand why he was so angry. Roxas knew he and Saix were still friends. He knew that they sometimes met up for lunch. Why did it matter?

“Why do you care?” Axel snapped.

Riku stared at Axel before squaring up to him and jabbing a finger into his chest. “Because I was the one who sat there and picked up the pieces for him when Vanitas ended things. I was his sponsor and dealt with him as he went through withdrawals.” Riku poked him in the chest again for emphasis, “I don’t want to see him suffer again. He’s a good guy, Axel, he didn’t deserve what Vanitas did to him. I’d hate to see him go through something like that again because you’ve decided to see your ex on the side.”

Axel clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything. There was no reason to fight one of his best friends. Plus he really didn’t want to explain to Sora how they’d both ended up in a fight that bruised their faces the night before the wedding.

His phone vibrated again and he quickly grabbed it out of his pocket, grateful for the distraction. 

A handful of texts from Roxas, a majority of them drunk selfies he had taken as well as a couple of check in messages. He had a few Demyx asking where they had gone and one from Terra confirming dinner with him and Roxas for the night after the wedding.

He looked up as the lights started to flicker, warning those coming out for a smoke break or to get some fresh air that intermission was almost over and the concert was going to resume soon. 

“C’mon, we should head back inside.” Axel dismissed their previous conversation.

Riku didn’t say anything as he followed Axel back to their table where another round of shots was waiting for them. He eagerly grabbed a shot glass and held it up to his friends before throwing back the shot. 

Axel watched him for a moment before turning to stop a passing waitress and asking for another round of shots and for refills on their drinks. 

As Depeche Mode played through the rest of their set list, playing some of their best hits, Axel continued to order shots and beers, hoping to get Riku drunk enough that he would drop their conversation all together. 

When the concert ended, minutes before 11, they all gathered outside, Riku almost completely sloshed as he leaned against Axel and Demyx who helped him out of the club. “Guys!” he said with a giggle. 

“We need to get him some water otherwise Sora is gonna have our heads.” Xigbar said. 

“We’ll blame it on Axel who was providing him shot after shot. Seriously dude, he’s gonna be drunk for his wedding if you keep this up.” Demyx chided as the bus pulled up to the club front. 

Axel didn’t say anything as Riku stood up and wobbled a bit before finding his footing and approaching the bus. 

They headed inside and gathered their party and by the time they were outside, the bus had arrived. Riku headed in first, spotting Sora instantly. He bounded over to Sora and plastered himself to his boyfriend’s side, pressing kisses to his face and telling him how much he loved him.

Axel scanned the bus to look for Roxas, only to find him sitting between Kairi and Olette. Roxas met his eyes and gave him a shy wave before Kairi handed him a shot.

Shaking his head, Axel took a seat next to Xigbar and joined in their conversation about what Depeche Mode song sounded best live. 

When they arrived at the club, they found a place to sit. While the others ran off to find drinks and food, Axel and Sora stayed behind to watch coats and purses. 

Sora was enthusiastically munching on the mixed nuts as Axel leaned back against the booth seat, scrolling through the messages he had gotten during the concert.

Axel saved the photos that Roxas had sent him, using his favorite picture of Roxas’ cheesy smile to save as a new phone background.Once that was done, he started texting Terra letting him know he’d talk to Roxas about the four of them getting together for a meal..

He opened a couple more apps, scrolling through them aimlessly before going back to his messages to look at more pics Roxas had sent him. They were mainly drinks followed by “does this look good?” Or “is this something you would like?” Since he was already at the bar, he promised to bring Axel a drink. 

Axel could feel Sora’s eyes on him and he sighed, locking his phone and turning to look at Sora. “What’s up, Sora? Enjoying your last day as Sora Strife?” he asked, tilting his head. 

Sora shrugged. “Riku’s taking my name, I think. I’m not sure anymore. I’m just happy to be marrying him,” he sighed resting his chin on his hand as his eyes started to stare at something in the distance. 

Axel was amused and leaned against his hand and watched Sora. “Interesting, I didn’t know Riku wanted to be a Strife,” he said. 

Sora’s attention was brought back to Axel. “Yeah, he was pretty much adopted by my parents when we first met. His guardians weren’t the best people so he spent a lot of time at the house. Zack loved him, Cloud was, well, he’s my dad. He wasn’t too sure how he felt about him at first, but Riku eventually wiggled his way into his heart,” he said, leaning back against the seat as a waitress stopped by with the beer that Sora had ordered. 

“Cloud really likes you too,” Sora said during a lull in the pop music and chatter around them. 

Axel shifted in his seat, stopping a waitress to ask for whiskey on the rocks. Given how long it was taking them, he assumed Roxas had forgotten about the drinks and had gone to party some more. 

“I always got the impression that he was indifferent about me,” he said at last. He leaned forward to grab a small handful of the pretzels and munched on a few. 

Sora scoffed. “Nah, they both like you. Zack’s been asking Cloud when he thinks you’re gonna pop the question.” 

Axel choked on his pretzels and slapped his chest as he tried to catch his breath. He shook his head as though that would clear the scratchy feeling in his throat. It didn’t help that the air around them was growing stuffy which made it harder for him to breath. 

Sora was still talking, but Axel couldn’t focus on a word he was saying, only hearing words that broke through the foggy haze. He closed his eyes tight, trying to focus on his breathing but his mind wouldn’t allow him to. The argument between him and Roxas kept echoing through his mind, only to be replaced with memories of when Saix ended their very short engagement. What had Terra said about this? It had made him feel better at the time, but he couldn’t remember now. His throat felt constricted and dry.

Sora’s words just barely managed to filter through the fog, but Axel wasn’t going to stick around to hear what he had to say. He quickly stood up and moved away from the table as he heard Sora say, ‘I could give you the card to the guy who did our rings.’

“I need some air,” Axel said as he crawled out of the booth and rushed outside, ignoring the calls from his friends. 

Once outside, Axel leaned forward his hands on his knees and sucked in a few deep breaths of cold air. He clenched his jaw as tears started to well up in his eyes and he slowly stood up wiping off his face. 

“Fuck,” he said breathlessly when he heard familiar footsteps coming from behind him. Axel felt Roxas’ hand on his back before he even spoke. 

“Are you okay?” Roxas asked tone heavy with concern. He started rubbing circles on Axel’s back and across his shoulders, trying to reassure and make sure his boyfriend was okay. 

Axel stood up and quickly moved himself away from Roxas, turning to him with his jaw still clenched and eyes dark with anger. 

Roxas stared at him with his hand out, blue eyes hazy with the drinks he drank throughout the night. “Axel…” he trailed off taking a step towards his boyfriend. 

Axel shook his head. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about this and I, especially don’t want to talk to you about it. Just leave me alone and give me some space Roxas..”

“What are you talking about?” Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed as he tried to register understand what Axel meant. “Ax, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You rushed out of there like a bat out of hell. Are you going to be okay? Are you feeling sick? I can take you home early, and if Riku needs to stay with Zexion and Demyx tonight, I can let them know,” he said, pointing his thumb back at the club. 

“What?” Axel asked glaring at Roxas. 

Roxas licked his lips as he moved forward closer to his boyfriend, still concerned. “You know, the old ‘couple can’t see each other before the wedding’ tradition, and Sora and Riku’s wedding is tomorrow? Riku was gonna stay at the house with you while I stay with Sora. Ya know, as their best men? Did you forget?” he asked gently. 

Roxas wasn’t sure what happened or what caused Axel to snap, but he soon found himself pressed against the side of the club with Axel’s fingers digging into his shoulders. His eyes were wide as he stared at Axel who was glaring down at him, green eyes dark and narrowed with anger. 

“Why can’t you stop talking about the damn wedding?” Axel asked. 

Roxas grabbed onto Axel’s wrists, trying to push him away. “Ax, you’re hurting me!” he cried,struggling under Axel’s tight grip.

At his plea, Axel’s eyes widened and he quickly moved away from Roxas, pure shock and horror written all over his face. “Roxas, I-I’m sorry, I just…” he trailed off as Roxas rubbed at his shoulders. 

He’d physically hurt Roxas, laying hands on his boyfriend in an angry cocktail of stress and anger and alcohol. He was no better than Roxas’ ex, and he could see the hurt and fear in Roxas’ eyes. He’d put it there. “I’m sorry Rox,” he reached out towards him, but Roxas shied away. 

Roxas grimaced as he rubbed his shoulder. “I’m gonna back inside. Go home, Axel, and sleep this off. I’ll call you and Riku an Lyft.” He frowned back at Axel before heading inside. “I love you. We’ll talk later, ok?”

Axel bit his lip as he looked down at his hands, the hands that had hurt his boyfriend. He sighed and pressed his palms into his eyes, rubbing them until specks of colors formed behind his eyelids. 

He leaned against the wall and lit another cigarette. He was contemplating a second when Riku came stumbling out of the club. 

“Axel!” Riku said excitedly when he spotted Axel.

Axel nodded at him and fought hard to not roll his eyes when Riku gave him a sad look when his hazy green eyes landed on the cigarette in his hands.

He took a last drag before snuffing out the cigarette and tossed it in the garbage. “Sup Riku. Roxas kick you out too?” 

“Yeah, Sora and I were dancing and making out and now I’m sad. But! We’re getting married tomorrow. I’m marrying my best friend! So I can’t be too sad.” Riku leaned against Axel with his forehead against his shoulder. 

Axel chuckled and patted Riku’s cheek as the promised Lyft showed up. “C’mon buddy. Let’s go home,” he said.

He helped Riku into the car, where his friend almost immediately fell asleep. They headed towards Axel’s house in silence; the driver wasn’t in a chatty mood, and Axel had a lot to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowee, this chapter was dramatic.   
> We are in the final stretch guys. I think about 5 more chapters? Maybe 6?
> 
> HOWEVER. Because I kind of created this giant universe for this story, I decided to write a few one shots about some of the characters AND a short story from Turkey's point of view, since he's such a well liked character in this story. 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy and aren't too mad at what's gonna happen next!


	13. Dearly Beloved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: some mention of abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: some mention of abuse

The rest of the group partied well into the night, only leaving when the club started preparing to close its doors.

Roxas tried not bring down the mood, having spent the rest of the night at the table looking through social media and trying not to panic when his mind started to wander to the incident between him and Axel.

He refused to let his mind dwell, knowing deep down, it was something he and Axel could move past once they sat down and talked about what happened.

At least he hoped.

When they all arrived to Riku and Sora’s, Roxas grabbed blankets and pillows for everyone and they piled up in the living room, everyone sharing a couch or arm chair. 

Roxas shared Sora’s bed with Sora, opting to give his cousin his own blanket knowing full well, that Sora was someone who liked to hog all of the covers. 

Despite the amount of alcohol in his system, Roxas couldn’t fall asleep. Whether it was lack of his boyfriend sleeping next to him or if it was his brain was trying to decipher why his boyfriend was so angry with him. 

When another half hour passed and his mind wouldn’t stop focusing on the night’s events, Roxas slowly walked out of his room and down the hallway to the kitchen to grab a midnight snack. He placed two pieces of toast in the toaster and poured himself some milk and placed the glass into the microwave and set it to run for 30 seconds. Just enough time to warm his drink. 

The toast popped up a few moments later and Roxas grabbed it up and as he was getting ready to head back to his bedroom, but he was stopped by Kairi. 

“Jesus Kai, you scared me.” Roxas said with a small laugh.

“Sorry Roxas, I was still awake and I heard someone in the kitchen and decided to investigate. I’m guessing you’re in the same predicament?” Kairi asked gesturing to the toast in his hand. 

Roxas just shrugged as he nodded shyly. “Yeah, Ax and I got into a fight and my mind won’t let it go long enough for me to fall asleep.” he held out one of his pieces of toast to Kairi who thanked him as she took it. 

“Everything okay?” Kairi asked she took a seat at the island. 

Roxas didn’t respond right away, taking a bite of his toast and a gulp of his warm milk before answering. “I think so? He just got really mad about the wedding. Asked me why I was so obsessed with it. I didn’t think I was being obsessed. Sora asked for my help to help with last minute details and I agreed.”

Kairi was silent for a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face as she munched on the toast. 

“Axel’s always been kind of weird about weddings. I think he’s just scared. You’re the first real relationship he’s had since Saix and I think he’s afraid that he’ll mess it up. He is honestly, his own worst enemy.” she mused placing a hand on his bicep and gave it a gentle squeeze. 

Roxas bit his lip as he started to stare at the counter, his mind drifting off onto the events of that evening. He jumped when Kairi put her hand on his shoulder to garner his attention. 

“You okay Rox? You look like you went somewhere else just now.” Kairi asked concerned. 

“Oh, sorry, I just. Axel kind of grabbed my shoulders and pushed me into the wall. It honestly startled me. My mind won’t stop thinking about when Vanitas used to do that to me. He’d get really high and would just shove me into the wall and get into my face about whatever he was mad about that day. I don’t think Axel really knew what he was doing because as soon as he realized what he had done, he started apologizing. That’s when I sent him home. I don’t know, I don’t want to excuse his actions because I did that too many times with Vanitas, but at the same time, what if this was just a one time thing?” he looked at Kairi searching her face for any kind of answer. 

Kairi’s face was a mixture of concern and thoughtful before she cleared her throat. “Axel’s never been a physical harm kind of guy. Even when Reno would piss him off to the point where he could throw a punch, he would just brush it off. You said he was remorseful?” 

Roxas nodded as he finished off his toast. “Yeah, as soon as I told him he was hurting me, he stopped and started apologizing. I’m really hoping this is just a one off.” He sighed.

Kairi hummed before giving Roxas’ arm a squeeze. “I’m sure it was Roxas. You’re starting to look tired. Finish up your milk and get some sleep. We got a big day later!” She grinned.

Dusting off his shirt when he was finished with his toast and milk, Roxas quietly tip-toed back to the kitchen to place his glass in the sink. His eyes were starting to feel heavy as he shuffled back into Sora’s room and was glad his usual remedy was doing the trick. 

Crawling on to the bed, doing his best to not disturb his sleeping cousin, Roxas snuggled into the sheets, burying his face into Axel’s pillow he had taken before they came to bed and taking a deep breath. Between the mixture of alcohol and his midnight snack, Roxas had drifted off into a pleasant sleep. 

Several hours later, he was rudely awoken by Sora who was starting to beat him with a pillow. “Roxas, it’s my wedding day! Everyone wants to hit up Moogle cafe before they head home and get ready. Don’t worry, I already messaged Riku to make sure they didn’t have plans to eat there.” he said. 

Roxas groaned as the inevitable headache hit him like a truck. He grabbed his pillow and covered his face before tossing it at Sora when his cousin didn’t let up. “Fine, lemme just take some motrin. My head is killing me.” 

Satisfied with Roxas’ answer, Sora grinned before jumping off the bed and heading down the hall to let the others know that Roxas would be joining them. 

Slowly getting up off the bed, Roxas groaned into the pillow before heading to the bathroom to find some headache medicine. Once he found some, he quickly popped it into his mouth and washed it down with some water. Grabbing some clean clothes, he got dressed before grabbing his phone to see if he had received any messages from Axel. 

The empty screen of his phone left Roxas a little disappointed, but he quickly stuffed his phone into his pocket. Axel didn’t like getting up on his days off and if he was as hungover as Roxas was at that moment, Roxas didn’t blame him for sleeping in. 

“Alright guys, let's head out.” Roxas said as he headed into the living room where Olette, Yuna, Sora and Tidus were all sitting waiting for him. 

“Where’s Kairi?” Roxas asked. 

“Oh, she headed back to her hotel. She didn’t bring a change of clothes and didn’t want to smell like alcohol. She’s gonna meet us there. You ready?” Olette answered placing her purse higher on her shoulder. 

Roxas nodded, placing his sunglasses in the bridge of his nose and grabbed his keys before heading out to his car. 

—

If there was one thing that Axel hated more than waking up early after a night of drinking, it was being woken up by someone earlier than he planned.

“Get up stupid, we need to talk.”

Axel cursed the voice filtering through his sleep. “No,” he replied, eyebrows furrowed as he snuggled deeper into Roxas’ pillows, relaxing as the smell of cloves and peppermint hit his nose.

He heard whoever was speaking to him let out an exasperated sigh and it was followed by a pillow hitting the back of his head. 

“Fuck, what do you want?” Axel growled sitting up quickly, his eyes falling on his sister.

Kairi stood by the bed with her red hair tossed up into a messy bun and fresh, clean clothes. Her violet eyes held an irritated hatred towards her brother and Axel could tell that his sister was ready to throw hands if they weren’t preoccupied with holding a very happy, purring Turkey.

“What I want is for you to get your head out of your ass and stop being your own worst enemy.” Kairi responded.

Axel’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to recall the night’s events; going to the Depeche Mode concert, the discussion with a drunk Riku, then the club, discussion with Sora, fleeing because he started having a panic attack and then….

Getting angry with Roxas and hurting him.

“Shit.” He mumbled, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Yeah, shit. This isn’t like you Axel. Whatever is going on inside your head, you need to make it stop. Remind yourself that Roxas isn’t Saix. And your relationship with him isn’t going to end up like your relationship with your ex did.” Kairi said sitting on the edge of the bed and released Turkey from her arms.

Axel sighed as Turkey walked up to him and climbed on his chest, pressing his cold nose against his neck. “I know he’s not. I can’t even explain what’s going on with me. Roxas is, hands down, the best thing that’s happened to me and I’m well aware that I potentially push him away. But I love him so much and I don’t want to push him away.” 

Kairi gave him a small smile before gently punching his shoulder, “You’re in your own head too much and you need to learn to let things go. I’m heading out to meet everyone at Moogle cafe. I’ll see you at the venue.” She stood up and ruffled Axel’s hair before heading out, cheerfully greeting Riku as she passed him. 

Riku gave her a small wave before turning to Axel. “How’d she get in?” He asked with a small chuckle.

“She unfortunately has a key.” Axel said petting Turkey before lifting the blanket so he could snuggle.

With a chirp, Turkey dove under the covers and snuggled up.

Riku watched them leaning against the doorframe. “You wanna talk about what happened last night.” He asked.

Axel stood up and shook his head. “Not really, no. But I know we’re gonna talk about it anyway.” He said stretching giving Riku a look.

Riku just laughed, shaking his head before looking at Axel with a small smile. “Kairi’s right ya know. What happened with you and Saix sucked, but Roxas went through shitty things too. I know you love Roxas. Just consider what she said. Roxas loves you. More than I think he’s loved anyone. Trust him.” He said.

Axel didn’t respond, just stared at Riku for a moment before turning away as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, yeah, come on. How does greasy bacon sound for breakfast? I’ll call the guys up and we can hit up Chocobo Diner.”

After a brisk shower and a quick text to their friends, Riku and Axel made their way to the diner. Xigbar and Marluxia looked like they could use a few more hours of sleep, their hair pulled back and eyes covered in sunglasses.

Zexion and Demyx on the other hand looked like they hadn’t spent all night drinking and partying. “Hey guys.” Demyx greeted as Riku and Axel took their seats.

“How are you this cheerful first thing in the morning?” Axel grumbled as he looked through the menu.

Demyx shrugged. “Drank water along with my drinks.” 

The waitress showed up and took all their orders before leaving to get their drinks.

Once their drinks were placed in front of them, Demyx jumped into the discussion of the first dance and the song Thirteen Hearts was going to play.

“I actually have a request. Sora wants us to dance to King of My Heart, but I think As the World Falls Down, would be a better fit. It’s one of his favorite songs from the Labyrinth, which we saw for our first date, which I think it’ll hold more meaning. I hope this isn’t an issue changing this on you so last minute.” Riku gave them all an apologetic look.

Demyx shook his and waved his hand at Riku. “It’s really not a big deal, I know this song well enough that if we were to practice like an hour? We would be fine.” He said.

The others confirmed that yes, they would be able to do the song with minimal practice as the waitress brought them their food. 

Conversation shifted from wedding talk to the previous night’s concert. They teased Riku on how drunk he had gotten and how much he loved his soon to be husband.

“To be fair dude, it was sweet. You’re always so quiet and stoic. It was nice to know to see you let loose and none of us can really complain; you’re getting married to your best friend!” Demyx grinned as he sipped on his orange juice.

Axel chuckled as he clapped Riku on the back. “It was nice to know you can still party like you did back in college. Remember when he got so drunk that he called Sora at like 3 in the morning to tell him how much he loved him?” He asked.

Riku’s flushed scarlet as he sunk down into his chair as his friends brought up embarrassing moments of his life.

“Weren’t you having issues with telling him? I believe the excuse was you didn’t want to end up like your parents?” Zexion asked. 

“Something like that.” Riku flashed the bird at him which made Zexion laugh.

“I just can’t believe you’re finally getting married. Took you long enough to finally settle down with Sora, after what? 13 years?” Xigbar asked.

“Ha, well, there were a few bumps in the road. With Roxas going into rehab and then Sora starting his business. It just wasn’t the right time.” Riku shrugged.

But now was and in about 5 hours, he would be married to his best friend. 

Conversation continued to shift to different topics as they ate their breakfast. Jokes were made, memories of when Axel first met Riku and how he became part of the small group of friends they had made back in college were reminisced and many congratulations were continually thrown around. 

“We should head to the venue soon, I still have to help set up and all that.” Axel said looking at his phone, sent a quick text before quickly pocketing it. 

Riku raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything to his friend. He could ask him about it when they were on the way to the venue. 

The ride to the venue was quiet at first until Riku turned to Axel. “Why did you look upset when you looked at your phone? And who were you texting?” He asked.

He watched as Axel’s hands tightened around the steering wheel before relaxing his grip.

“It’s nothing and your mom, literally. She wanted to make sure you were awake. Feel free to check.” Axel sighed, tossing a look in Riku’s direction. When Riku continued to stare, Axel sighed again and relaxed his shoulders. 

“Roxas and I got into a fight last night and I was hoping maybe he would text me. But he didn’t. I know he’s probably busy with Sora, but it’d be nice to know he’s not mad.” 

Riku was quiet as he patted Axel’s shoulder. “Maybe he thought you’d text him first?” He suggested.

Axel chewed on his lip. He hadn’t thought about that. He was the one who started the fight, pushing Roxas against the wall and yelling at him in a drunken stupor. 

“I guess you’re right. Maybe I should’ve texted him first.” He said pulling up to Sunset hill. 

Roxas bounced on the balls of his feet as Sora finished getting dressed, tucking his shirt into his pants and pulling the white jacket onto his shoulders. 

“You look fantastic Sora! And those flower crowns that Zack and Cloud made are gonna look fucking amazing.” Roxas said as he helped make sure Sora’s jacket wasn’t bunched up in odd places. 

“You think so? I know it’s tradition in Destiny Islands for both of us to wear white, but we’re not in Destiny Islands, won’t it be weird? I did bring my black tux too…” Sora trailed off. 

Roxas rolled his eyes and placed his hands on Sora’s shoulders and made him look at him. “You’re overthinking this Sora. You’re fine. All of our friends and family know you and Riku were born in Destiny Islands and spent a lot of time there, no one's gonna find this weird.” he promised giving his cousin’s shoulders a squeeze. 

Sora gave him a grateful smile before wrapping his arms around Roxas’ shoulder. “I haven’t gotten to say this much, thank you. For everything you’ve done to make this day possible. It really means a lot. I actually got something for you, as a thank you. I know I already got you that gift basket for being my best man, but this is for helping me with everything,” he said reaching over and grabbing a medium sized blue bag, “Here.” 

Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed as he took the bag and took the tissue that poked out of the top. His face morphed into one of concern before it shifted into one of surprise. 

His bottom lip started to quiver as he pulled out a pillow that was made of different shirts he had over the years, but in the middle was the scrap of blanket that he had from his parents, the fabric itself worn and faded, but the charred edges were sewn away. 

Quickly wiping his eyes, Roxas threw himself at Sora. “This is, I can’t even put into words how amazing this is. How did you get the blanket piece?” He asked holding the pillow to his chest.

“I commissioned Axel to help me make it since he already had the piece.” Sora explained, turning to the door when it opened to reveal Zack and Cloud.

“Alright, we have the flower crown!” Zack said holding a flower crown that consisted of fresh spray roses, hydrangea, seeded eucalyptus and ranunculus.

Roxas stepped away, setting his pillow down next to his things as Cloud and Zack walked up to Sora.

“Do the honors Cloud,” Zack said as he stepped away and stood next to Roxas.

It had been a long discussion of the wedding would go; who would make the flower crown and present it to Sora? Who would walk him down the aisle, would they both dance with Sora or would they skip that tradition?

They decided Cloud and Zack would make the crown, but Cloud being Sora’s biological father would present it to him. 

Roxas bumped his shoulder against Zack’s as they watched Cloud place the crown upon Sora’s spikes, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Sora’s forehead. “Your mother, would be so proud.” He said softly.

It was Sora’s turn to start to cry, letting out a gentle laugh as he wiped his eyes. He wrapped his arms around Cloud, resting his cheek on his shoulder as Cloud held his head and buried his face into his hair. 

Roxas watched as Sora reached out for Zack, who took his hand and allowed Sora pull him into their hug. 

“I’m gonna step out and give you guys a moment.” Roxas pointed to the door. Even though he had been adopted into this family and was just as important to Zack and Cloud as Sora, Roxas felt like he was interrupting a very special moment between a son and his two dads.

When he left the room, movement next to him caught his eye and he saw Axel leaving Riku’s room too. 

Axel looked over at him before giving him a small wave. He shoved his hands into his pockets before making his way over to Roxas. 

Roxas met him halfway, chewing on his lip as he looked up at his boyfriend. “Hey.” He said.

“Hey,” Axel said in return, “I’m sorry about last night, I don’t want to make excuses for my behavior. It was really uncalled for.” 

Roxas didn’t say anything just pulled Axel into a hug before pulling him down for a kiss, smiling as Axel’s lips moved against his as he kissed back. When they separated, he gave him a smile. “I forgive you. I just wanna forget it happened for today and focus on Sora and Riku.” He said.

Axel nodded as he leaned down and kissed Roxas again, one hand on his hip as the other entangled itself into blond locks. He sighed into the kiss, letting the weight of their fight roll of his shoulders. 

They pulled apart at the sound of one of the doors opening and Riku’s parents leaving his dressing room. Roxas waved to Riku’s parents. “Hello gentlemen. Axel, the pastor is ready for you and Riku. The ceremony is gonna start.” Riku’s mom, Bri said.

Roxas let go of Axel after they hugged again before Axel went to retrieve Riku from the room. He watched as he and Riku walked away, a similar flower crown placed on Riku’s head.

Roxas knocked on the door of Sora’s changing room before opening the door and walking inside.

“We’re gonna head out to Sunset Hill and take our seats.” Zack said kissing Sora on the forehead before turning to Roxas to do the same.

Cloud gave them hugs before following Zack out of the room.

Roxas turned to look at Sora and gave him a smile. “You ready to get married?” He asked.

Sora returned the smile and gave himself one more glance in the mirror to make sure his crown wasn’t off kilter.

Once Sora was ready, he looped his arm with Roxas’ and the pair walked out of the changing room and up the winding trail to where the wedding and reception would be.

When the reached the top, just out of sight of the stage where Riku and Sora would be getting married, they were greeted with a guest sign in book on a table with a sign that read “The Union of Riku and Sora; we’re combining families, please choose sides.”

A burgundy runner lead the way between the rows of chairs, stopping at the spray rose covered arch where Riku stood talking away with the Ordained and Axel.

Tables were set aside and Roxas could spot Thirteen Hearts equipment was hidden away, waiting for the party.

Almost all of the benches were filled with guests and Roxas suddenly felt nervous. What if they tripped and fell? What if Sora messed up his vows?

“You okay?” Sora asked as Roxas let out a sigh.

“Nervous and I have no idea why. I’m not getting married, you are!” Roxas laughed.

Sora gave him an amused look before starting to rock on his feet, his own nerves coursing through him. He was nervous too, even though he knew everything was gonna be fine.

Roxas looked over to see Riku give him a thumbs indicating that the ceremony was ready to start. He turned to Sora, fixing his jacket before making sure the crown didn’t sit crooked on his hair. 

“Ready to get married to your best friend?” Roxas asked.

Sora bit his lip before releasing it, a giant smile on his face. “Heck yeah I am!”

Roxas grins before they reloop their arms together and start walking the path to the arch.

It was tradition for one of the grooms to be escorted by their parents, but Sora decided to ask Roxas to walk him. 

Roxas and Sora stopped in front of the stage and Riku met them at the steps and lead Sora to the arch, as Roxas took his spot, behind and to the side of Sora.

He couldn’t fight the smile on his face as he watched Sora, his cousin, brother, one of his best friends, marry the love of his life.

As Sora and Riku exchanged their vows, testaments to spend the rest of their lives together and to fight through the turmoils that life threw at them, Roxas’ eyes met Axel’s and the smile he had just grew. He could see himself, standing with Axel where Sora and Riku stood, reciting their own vows and getting married. 

He could see spending the rest of his life with Axel.

The guest erupting in applause and cheers as Riku pulled Sora into a deep kiss, their rings glistening in the afternoon sun. 

When the couple separated, they walked down the path back to their rooms, Axel and Roxas following a few feet behind. 

“Wow, you’re married.” Roxas grinned hugging Sora before moving to give Riku a hug. Axel did the same as their parents arrived in the room. 

“Okay, here is the paopu fruit from Destiny Islands as promised.” Bri said opening the cooler in her hands and presenting the star shaped fruit to Riku and Sora. 

Riku took the fruit and held it up to Sora who gave him a laugh. “This is so cheesy.” Sora said covering his face. 

“You’re the one who wanted to do this.” Riku teased. 

Sora uncovered his face and gave Riku a playful glare before holding the fruit in one hand. 

Riku gave him a wide smile before they leaned forward and took bites of the star shaped fruit.

Roxas leaned into Axel as he watched Sora and Riku. “I am so happy for them.” He said softly, wrapping his arms around Axel’s waist.

Axel leaned down and kissed Roxas gently.

“You guys wanna piece?” Sora asked holding the fruit out.

Roxas shook his head. “No thanks Sora. I’ll pass.” He said.

Sora shrugged before placing the fruit back into the cooler just as the photographer came in to take photos of both wedding parties.

When photos were taken, they all headed back to Sunset Hill which had since been transitioned from a wedding venue to a reception area where tables were scattered across the area, with the wedding party tucked away to the side so they could watch guests.

Demyx stood at the stage, a giant grin on his face. “Hello everybody. I am happy to announce Mr Sora and Riku Strife.”

Roxas and Axel had gone ahead of them, taking their respective seats on either side of the table, two chairs separating them where Sora and Riku would sit.

Sora and Riku walked out a few moments later, waving to their guests and taking their seats.

Waiters started to pass out different drinks, red and white wine for the grooms and wedding party and it wasn’t long as chatter filled the air when food started to be passed out.

Fried shrimp and smoked salmon were accompanied by honey-garlic carrots and Caesar salad. For those with dietary needs and preferences, fruit salads and Tofu Soba Noodles.

Axel slipped away after he was finished eating to stand with the rest of the band as they prepared to play for Sora and Riku’s first dance.

“Will Sora and Riku please come to the dance floor?” Demyx asked into the microphone as he started playing the opening chords of “As the World Falls Down.”

Roxas leaned forward at the table, chin in his hand as he watched his brother and his brother in law, slowly waltz around the dance floor.

As he watched them, his mind started to wander to his own wedding. What song would he and Axel dance to? Would they even have a giant wedding or something small and intimate? 

He sighed happily as he flickered his attention to Thirteen Hearts, eyes focused on his boyfriend who was happily playing the keyboard.

So much had happened over the past few weeks, but he hoped that things were finally starting to settle down for them.

Riku spun Sora before pulling him into a kiss as the song faded into its last note. 

Leaning back in his chair, Roxas clapped with the rest of the guests before standing up and going to dance with the rest of the guests as Thirteen Hearts started to pack away their stuff and the deejay started to play Uptown Funk. Kairi grabbed his arm, dragging him to the dance floor. 

Kairi gave Sora and Riku’s hugs before starting to dance to the music that was playing. She took Roxas’ hands and started swinging them until Roxas started to bounce around and started dancing with her. He laughed bumping his shoulder against Sora’s who just laughed in response. 

Axel joined them shortly after the band had cleaned up their equipment with drinks in hand. He handed one off to Roxas, Sora, Riku and Kairi, keeping one for himself and raised it to the newlyweds before taking a drink. 

They danced to the music, Axel pulling Roxas close to his body before ducking down to kiss his boyfriend. 

Roxas sighed against his mouth and kissed back, the front of his suit bunched into his fist. “I love you.” he said smiling up as they separated. 

“I love you too.” 

It was a few hours into the reception when Sora and Riku left the dance floor and returned to their seats to relax before joining their guests on the dancefloor. 

As they sat and relaxed, Riku requested for their wedding to be brought out so they could cut it and hand out pieces to those who wanted a piece. 

The cake itself was a three tiered white cake. Flowers made of icing that were mocks of the ones on their flower crowns, were placed along the side, swirling their way to the top tier. 

Sora removed the Mister and Mister topper from the top tier and grabbed the knife, turning to look at Riku and held his hand out for him.

With Riku’s hand over Sora’s, they slowly and carefully carved out the first piece and placed it on a plate. Riku grabbed forks and when he turned back, he was met with a face full of cake. Sora was giggling hard as the crowd got quiet with a few bouts of laughter across the room. 

Riku let out an amused sigh and laughed before grabbing either side of Sora’s face and kissing him, rubbing his face against Sora’s when the parted, smearing the icing across his cheek. 

Sora yelped, the sound fading into a hearty laugh. He grabbed some napkins so they could clean up.

Roxas and Axel joined Sora and Riku, helping them pass out pieces of cake to their guests. They all took a seat when the cake was passed out and dug in to their own pieces. 

Guests came and went, congratulating Sora and Riku. Drinks were continuously served and the deejay played fun, cheesy wedding songs like the electric slide and thriller.

As the party started coming to an end, Roxas and Axel had started to clean up the tables and made sure Sora and Riku had everything they needed for their trip.

As Roxas finished up clearing off the table, collecting the fancy China that Riku’s mother had handed down to him, Axel’s phone started to ring.

“Oh, I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” Axel said after he pulled out his phone.

Roxas watched as Axel walked a few feet ahead, talking animatedly to the person who had called him. 

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face Sora and Riku. “Oh hey, you two heading out?” He asked.

Riku nodded a giant smile on his face. “Yeah, we wanted to make sure you were still up to check on the house?” 

Roxas nodded and grinned. “Of course, oh!” He said digging into his Tuxedo pocket and pulling out the envelope that had the spa package.

“What’s this?” Sora asked as he started to tear open the envelope and read its contents. 

“Just your honeymoon gift. Thought it would be a nice way for you guys to relax while you’re at Destiny Islands.” Roxas shrugged. 

“Thanks Roxas. Hey, who is Axel talking to?” Riku asked, nodding his head to Axel.

Roxas turned to look at Axel who had a smile on his face and was laughing. He tilted his head as he watched. “I’m not sure. I think it’s Xion? She and Naminé are coming down soon for my birthday.”

Sora scoffed which caused Roxas to turn and look at him, eyebrows furrowed. His cousin gave him a look before shrugging and fidgeting with the papers in his hands.

Roxas placed his hands on his hips and looked at Sora, who let out an exasperated sigh.

“It could be Saix? I know they were hanging out that day of your fight,” Sora said before grabbing Roxas’ arm and giving it a squeeze, “the limos waiting for us to take us to the airport, so I don’t have a lot of time to explain. Just, ask Axel about it.” He said before taking Riku’s hand and heading to where the limo was waiting.

Axel walked up to Roxas pocketing his phone, wrapping an arm around Roxas’ shoulders.

Roxas shrugged away and turned at Axel. “You lied to me.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“What.” Axel deadpanned.

“You lied to me Axel. You said you were meeting with a client but in reality you met up with Saix.” Roxas explained crossing his arms.

Axel scoffed as he looked at his boyfriend. “I didn’t lie. I did meet up with a client.”

Roxas looked at Axel raising an eyebrow. “Was that client Saix?” He asked.

“No, Roxas. It was Saix’s fiancé Terra. Why do you care so much that I didn’t tell you?” Axel asked.

Roxas huffed, clenching his fists. “Because Axel, this is the same shit Vanitas pulled. He’d tell me one thing and then do another. He snuck around fucking other guys behind my back while I was hardly ever allowed to do anything without his permission. I don’t care if you hang out with Saix, just don’t hide it from me.” 

“Maybe I wouldn’t feel the need to hide things from you if you weren’t so unbearable all the time. Maybe Vanitas wouldn’t have felt the need to hide things If you weren’t such a controlling brat! Tell me Roxas, did you get overly obsessed about weddings too? Maybe that’s why he forced you to get high all the time so he could have a moment of peace.” Axel’s voice raised with each word he spoke, until he was yelling at Roxas, spite and anger evident in his voice.

Roxas looked at him with a shocked expression, eyes welling up with tears and his bottom lip quivering. He quickly bit down, but that didn’t stop a sob from escaping from his mouth.

Axel stared at Roxas, a twin expression on his face. “Roxas, I di—.” He was interrupted by Roxas raising his hand to stop him. 

“Fuck. You,” Roxas managed to get out, tears running down his face, “you did mean it. I’m fucking done. Between this and what happened last night? I’m done. I can’t date another Vanitas.” He clenched his jaw, tears welling up in his eyes before turning around and running off in the direction of the dressing rooms.

Axel was frozen at the spot, his eyes burning as tears started to blur his vision, “Roxas….” he whispered.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked over at Demyx. 

“Dude, what happened?” Demyx asked his eyebrows furrowed.

Axel looked back to where Roxas previously stood, his heartbreaking into what felt like a million pieces. “I think, Roxas and I just broke up.”


	14. Better With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger Warning: **attempted suicide, talks of suicide.****
> 
> **I would like to say before you jump into this chapter, that the things in this chapter do not reflect how I view suicide and those who have committed or have tried to commit suicide. I, myself have tried to commit suicide and these are things I realized after years of therapy and reflection on myself. Please, keep this in mind as you read this chapter.**
> 
> **Thank you.**

Roxas stood behind the medium ledge, staring down at the bustling small town in front of him. The roundabout Tram made its way around the main street picking up pedestrians too tired to continue walking to their destination. Children screamed and laughed as parents talked among themselves. Teens walked around with sea salt ice cream in their hands and excited to spend their odd job money on things they really didn’t need. A line for the new bistro that had just opened wrapped around the building, young couples excited to try the new food that was being offered. 

Roxas really wanted to try it, take Axel there for the anniversary in February, but he knew after the morning was over, it wouldn’t be an option. 

Taking a deep breath, Roxas grabbed the folded note in his pocket, running his thumb over it the name that was written in poor handwriting before pocketing it again. The police would find it and see what it was; who it was intended for. Hopefully they’d deliver it to him. 

Looking out at the town, he pressed the note to his chest right where his heart was and took a deep breath. “I love you Axel,” he released it shakily before pocketing the note and getting ready to climb onto the ledge.

Everything fell quiet as his first foot stepped onto the corner. Roxas couldn’t hear the children screaming, the teens and adults talking away as the October chill settled over them. Once he got his second foot onto the ledge, he looked down at the town again, watching as they were so busy content with their lives.

A loud ringing pierced the quiet air, startling Roxas and causing him to lose his footing and fall back on the Clocktowers balcony. 

Scrambling to his feet, Roxas pulled out his phone to see what the alarm was and soon his face felt hot as his eyes burned and his chest began to tighten.

Feed turkey!! Flashed across his the top of his screen, just above a photo of Turkey and Axel wearing matching shirts. It was one of Roxas favorite photos. He even had it printed on his desk at work. His boys always there to brighten his day. 

Staring at the photo, Roxas realized he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t take his own life. Turkey needed him. Turkey loved him.

Another ding and Roxas looked at his phone to see a text message notification.

_Hey Roxas, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I hope we can talk soon, I miss you. I love you. I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you are, my love._

Axel. 

Axel still loved him. Of course he did. Why did Roxas ever doubt that? He looked at his phone as a second set of rings went through, his alarm restarting since he didn’t cancel it. 

Roxas quickly hit cancel on his phone and wiped his tears. He quickly dialed Cloud’s number and waited for him to answer. When he failed to do so, he called Zack, who answered on the second ring.

“Hey Roxy, what’s up?” Zack’s voice filtered through the speaker and Roxas let out another sob.

Zack and Cloud. His uncles. Adopted dad’s. The men who took him in when he had no one. He couldn’t do that to them either. He covered his eyes with his free arm and took another deep shaky breath.

“Woah, Roxas are you okay? Do you need me to pick you up?” Zack’s usually friendly and lilt tone turned serious as he spoke.

Roxas nodded, before letting out a choked laugh-sob realizing that Zack couldn’t see him. “Yes please. I-I’m at the clocktower, I-I’m sorry, I hope you w-weren’t busy.” He choked out.

Zack reassured him he wasn’t busy and would be at the clock tower as soon as possible. He promised to stay on the phone with him until he got there.

When he arrived, he brought a blanket and wrapped it around Roxas’ shoulders holding him close and pressing kisses to his hair. Zack escorted Roxas down the stairs and into his car and drove them home. 

“You wanna tell me what happened?” Zack asked as he handed Roxas a mug of hot chocolate. 

Roxas looked around the living room, his eyes flickering to each detail; the fireplace that had his and Sora’s graduation photos as well as a new addition of Riku and Sora’s wedding photo. An old chair that Cloud salvaged and reupholstered sat in the corner with throw pillows and a blanket Sora made in home economics.

The coffee table Roxas made in woodworking sat in the middle with coasters and the day’s mail waiting for Cloud to sort through. 

All these little details, made Roxas even more ashamed of what he had planned to do. He would’ve missed seeing his family again. Missed holidays at his dad’s house that always ended up with everyone napping in the living room while Cloud and Zack yelled at the football game. He would’ve missed walking into this house on Christmas morning, smelling fresh coffee and baking cookies as Zack and Cloud finished last minute wrapping.

He blew on his hot chocolate and took a careful sip, licking his lips of any excess malt before looking at his dad.

“Ever since the wedding, when Axel and I fought, I've felt worthless, pathetic, just, I didn’t feel like myself. I felt like Axel never loved me and I went to a really dark place. I felt exactly like I did when I was with Vanitas; out of place, a burden, scum on the earth. Even when everyone came over to see how I was doing, I just felt out of place. Like everyone there was only there out of obligation. They didn’t actually care. So I decided that if no one cared; what was the point?” Roxas said taking a shaky breath.

Zack placed his hand on Roxas shoulder giving him a reassuring squeeze.

Roxas gave him a small smile before continuing.

“After they left, I sat down and wrote out suicide notes, just apologizing for my existence. I didn’t know when I was going to do it, just that it was going to happen. Didn’t even realize it was my birthday.” He let out an empty laugh.

Zack pulled him into a hug, cupping the back of his head. “What made you decide not to do it?” He asked.

“I was climbing up the ledge and my alarm to feed Turkey came on. The picture I have as my background made me realize that suicide would just make things hard for everyone. Turkey would be sad. Axel wouldn’t forgive himself. It just clicked in my head that this wasn’t going to resolve my problems for me. My very temporary and solvable problems. That if I did commit suicide, it would hurt a lot of people.” Roxas explained taking his phone out to show Zack the picture.

Zack chuckled at the expression on Axel’s face and the shirts. He squeezed Roxas’ shoulders, pulling him into a hug before resting his chin on his head. 

They sat there in silence before Roxas moved. “I need to call my psychiatrist. I haven’t really been taking care of myself. I should, uh, set up an appointment.” He said grabbing his phone and leaving the living room for privacy.

Once the appointment was set for later that week, Roxas asked Zack to take him to Sora and Riku’s so he could feed Turkey.

When it came time to see his psychiatrist, Roxas revealed he hadn’t been taking his antidepressants due to being so wrapped in helping Sora with the wedding. His psychiatrist suggested that he stay with Zack and Cloud so he could be closely monitored until he was back on his antidepressants and wasn’t a harm to himself.

Roxas was worried his dad’s wouldn’t like Turkey in the house despite his inability to tear up furniture and his pretty quiet demeanor, but when Cloud met Turkey for the first time, he fell in love. 

Whenever Roxas wasn’t home due to work an appointment with his psychiatrist. Turkey would snuggle with Cloud if he wasn’t at work or came home early. Despite his fear that he’d have to leave Turkey behind with his dad’s, Roxas was glad Turkey felt comfortable enough in their temporary home. 

“Have you talked to Sora since you’ve been here?” Cloud asked as they cleaned up after dinner one evening.

Roxas bit his lip and shook his head. “No, I didn’t really wanna bother them while they’re on their honeymoon.” he explained setting the clean plate into the dish drainer. 

“You should give him a call. Just leave a voicemail explaining you’re staying with us. How about Axel? Have you talked to him at all since you moved out?” he asked. 

“No, I haven’t, He messaged me, on my birthday, it was one of the things that made me realize that I shouldn’t do what I had planned on doing,” Roxas said putting another plate away, “He just said really fucked up things to me and I’m still hurt about it.” he confessed. 

Cloud grabbed a towel and dried his hands before placing his hand on Roxas’ shoulder and giving him a gentle squeeze. “I know, no one’s asking you to forgive him. Just consider giving him a call. Let him know you got his message and that you just need some space.” he pulled Roxas into a hug and kissed his forehead. 

Roxas chuckled swatting at Cloud. “I’ll give everyone a call in the morning. Promise.” 

Once the dishes were set in the dish drainer, Roxas picked up Turkey as the front door dinged through the house. 

Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed as he headed to the front door to answer it. He was surprised to Kairi, Xion and Namine standing outside all carrying what looked like birthday gifts. “Happy late birthday Roxas!” they all chorused as Roxas stepped aside and let them in. 

“Hey guys, what are you doing here?” Roxas asked as he took a seat on the couch, with Turkey in his lap.

“Well, Xion and I came to visit from your birthday, but then heard you weren’t staying with Axel anymore, so we decided to find you. Thankfully Riku answered otherwise we would’ve been looking all night.” Namine teased as she held her hand out for Turkey. 

“Oh, right. Sorry guys, as I’m sure you know I’ve been kind of distracted. I do appreciate you stopping by to see me.” Roxas said as Turkey jumped off his lamp to relocate next to Namine. 

“It’s alright! We just wanted to give you your presents and see how you were doing. You seem to be doing okay?” Xion asked handing Roxas the first bag which was labeled from Axel. 

Roxas nodded. “Yeah, I am doing a lot better than I was on my actual birthday. I’m hoping to go home in a few weeks once I get the okay from my doctor.” he said. 

All three girls’ face lit up at the news. “So you’re not going to break up with Axel?” Kairi asked which earned her disbelieving looks from Namine and Xion. 

“Anyway, open up. First gift is from Axel. He asked us to bring it to ya since we were already here.” Namine said. 

Roxas nodded grabbing the bag and grabbing the card that was poking out of the tissue paper. He quickly opened it, laughing at the front, which had a sphinx that looked almost identical to Turkey on it with googly eyes. 

On the inside was a simple message that read ‘Happy Birthday!” but there was a handwritten message underneath it. 

_Roxas, 25 years old! Man, you’re getting up there in age, aren’t ya? I’m just kidding. I didn’t want to get too mushy, but the last few months have been wonderful. I hope we get to celebrate the rest of our birthdays together. I love you so much. -Axel._

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, Roxas closed the card and set it aside. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that he and Axel were very much still in love. That’s all that mattered. 

Axel’s gift consisted of two shirts Roxas had pointed out to him at a store they had walked by during lunch one day, a knitted sweater with checkers across the chest and two tickets to Panic at the Disco in March of the next year. 

Kairi had bought him some sea salt scented candles and face masks. Xion had gotten him a couple of sweaters for Turkey and a keychain with a white tiger on it.

Namine grinned as her turn came up and she handed Roxas a gift certificate. “It’s for my tattoo parlor. I’ve seen some of your work and I’d love to add to it. Next time you come visit, we’ll sit down and design you a new tattoo.” she explained. 

Roxas bit his lip and hugged his friends. “You guys really didn’t have to do this. I really appreciate it. I know Turkey will appreciate not being cold this upcoming Winter.” he said holding up a blue sweater with a snowflake knitted into it. 

The girls stayed and talked with Roxas a bit more, but headed out when it started to get late. 

Roxas requested that they all text him when they got home and once they all had left in Kairi’s car, he locked the door, picked up Turkey and headed to bed.

\---

Axel sat in his car in front of the Strife-Fair residence and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

When Xion and Namine had returned from visiting Roxas, they had informed him of what Roxas had done and both of his cousins were quick to tell him it wasn’t his fault and that Roxas was dealing with some things, but none of it was his fault. 

That didn’t stop Axel from beating himself up and blaming himself for it. Once he spoke with Kairi a couple days later, he made a decision and headed over to Sora and Riku’s house where he had thought Roxas was staying. 

It was there he was directed to Cloud and Zack’s house. 

He Climbed out of his car and patted down his shirt to remove any wrinkles that may have formed while he was sitting. Once he was sure he was presentable he walked up the path to the front door, just as his sister did a few days prior. 

When he reached the door, Axel had half a mind to turn back to his car and leave. Shaking his head, he took another deep breath and released it before reaching up and knocking on the door. If he didn’t speak to Roxas now, he didn’t know when he’d have the courage to see him again. 

After a few agonizing seconds, the door opened and Cloud stood in the doorway with Turkey curled up around his neck. The sphinx chirped and reached out for Axel and he couldn’t help but smile, happy to see the cat didn’t hate him. 

“Hey Mr. Strife, I was wondering if Roxas was home?” Axel asked, giving him what he hoped was a charming smile and not a nervous grimace. 

Cloud’s eyes narrowed and his arms crossed, “No, he’s not. What are you doing here?” he asked coldly. 

Axel rubbed at the back of his neck before shoving his hands in his pockets. “I came to see if he was alright. I had heard about his, um, well, I heard about what happened and I wanted to see him,” he said softly eyes cast down. 

“He’s not home right now. He goes for a run at this time of night. If I know him as well as I think I do, he’ll be at the clocktower. Before you go to apologize or whatever it is you’re gonna do, pick up some sea salt ice cream,” Cloud said giving him an intimidating stare.

Axel looked up and gave Cloud a thankful smile, the stress rolling from his shoulders. “Yeah, will do. Thank you Mr. Strife.” he said before turning around. 

“Hey Axel, don’t break his heart again.” Cloud called out to him. 

Axel stopped and turned to Cloud and gave him a nod. “I promise, I won’t.” 

Cloud returned the nod before heading back inside, closing the door behind him. 

Axel headed back to his car and headed to the clocktower. He found a place to park and walked across the street to get two sea salt ice cream popsicles. He thanked the cashier when she handed him the ice cream and he quickly made his way back to the clocktower and took the stairs that lead to the top. 

When he reached the balcony of the clock tower, Axel stopped in his tracks as he spotted Roxas who was standing behind the ledge with a camera in his hand taking pictures of the sunset. 

A small breeze picked up and rushed through Roxas’ hair and the reds and oranges of the sunset made him glow. He looked absolutely breathtaking.

Clearing his throat, Axel stepped forward, “Bet you don’t know why the sun sets red.” 

Roxas jumped a little before turning to Axel quickly and let out an embarrassed smile. “Heh, I always thought it was the pollution.” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Axel bit back a huge grin and moved forward, holding one of the ice creams towards Roxas. “Nah, out of the colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.” he opened his own ice cream and took a bite of the salty, sweet ice cream. 

Roxas rolled his eyes at him before taking a seat on the ledge and opening his own ice cream. “Well, like I asked know it all,” he teased as he looked at Axel, patting the spot next to him. 

This time, Axel couldn’t fight off the huge smile and quickly took a seat next to Roxas. He sat close, but gave him some space, just in case. 

They sat together on the ledge in silence for a few minutes, eating their ice cream before it melted onto their laps. 

Axel looked at his stick when he finished to find a lightly stamped ‘winner’ written on the stick. He handed it to Roxas who took the stick. 

“Thanks,” Roxas laughed pocketing the stick, “You probably came up here to find out what happened, huh?” 

Axel shook his head. “No, actually. I came to apologize for my behavior at the wedding and before that too. And for not telling you about Saix. Even though there was no ill intention, I still should’ve been honest with you about it.” he said looking at his hands before looking over at Roxas. 

Roxas chewed on the inside of his lip before releasing it and leaning over, grabbing the front of Axel’s shirt and pulling him into a kiss. He sighed when he felt Axel kissed him back and after a few moments, he pulled away, pressing his hands on Axel’s chest. “I forgive you.”

Axel gave him a small smile before pulling him into another chaste kiss. “Tell me what happened?” he asked running his thumb over Roxas’ cheek.

Roxas pulled away after a moment before jumping into the story of what happened and what lead him to the decision to kill himself. 

“When that alarm went off, I can’t really explain it as anything else but it was like something clicked in my brain. The same thing happened when I was thirteen and I wanted to kill myself because my parents were gone. Killing myself wasn’t going to reunite me with them. It wasn’t going to bring them back. That afternoon I came up here, I realized that a lot of my friends, family, you, Turkey would be devastated,” Roxas stopped to take a shaky breath and released it, tears forming in his eyes, “Part of me, believed that I was unlovable. First Vanitas was always trying to control my life, then you, hiding that you were hanging out with Saix. You weren’t even hiding it, it was just a bad miscommunication on both of our parts. You mix all that in with me not taking my meds, it became this deadly concoction that made me believe that I’d be better off gone. But I realize now that I don’t need a boyfriend to know I’m well loved. I don’t need a partner to be the best version of myself.” 

Axel had tears in his eyes, but he just watched Roxas, not saying anything. He reached up and wiped his eyes, his bottom lip quivering as he listened to Roxas speak. 

Roxas looked at him for a moment before smiling and giving him a small smile. “I realized that I am great, without a partner, but I am better with you in my life, as my boyfriend Ax.” he reached over and took Axel’s hand, lacing their fingers together and giving it a squeeze. 

Axel pulled Roxas’ hand to his mouth and gave it a kiss. “So, does that mean we’re still boyfriends?” 

Roxas stared at him with his mouth open before laughing, covering his mouth with his free hand. “Of course you big dork!” He said.

Axel beamed as he laughed and pulled Roxas into a hug, kissing his hair. “I just wanted to make sure is all,” he said burying his face into Roxas’ hair. “I wanted to take you out for your birthday, but we were kind of on a break. Do you think we could get lunch or even dinner this week?” 

Roxas pulled away and nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

They sat on the top of the clocktower watching the sunset into night. When it started to get even colder, Axel took Roxas home.

“I’ll see you tomorrow around lunchtime?” Axel asked as Roxas unbuckled his seatbelt. 

“Hm, yeah, I’ll meet you at your office?” Roxas asked. 

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Axel grinned hooking Roxas’ chin and pulling him into a kiss. 

Roxas laughed against Axel’s mouth before kissing him back. “Text me when you get home?” he asked. When Axel nodded, he gave him another kiss before heading inside where Cloud was sitting with Turkey in his lap and Zack was on the opposite couch reading a book. 

“Hey Rox. How did things go?” Zack asked setting his book down. 

“It went well. We’re going out to lunch tomorrow to talk some more.” Roxas explained hanging up his coat as Turkey chirped and trotted over to him. He leaned down and picked up his cat. 

Zack watched him for a moment, a small smile forming on his face. “We’re proud of you. Tell us how it goes.” he said. 

“Of course, good night dads.” Roxas smiled and nodded before heading into his room and went to bed.

The next day Roxas woke up earlier than he usually did on his days off. He helped Cloud and Zack get ready for work, fed Turkey, went for a jog and got some clothes ready for his lunch date with Axel. 

Once he was satisfied with his hair and his outfit (a panic at the disco shirt under an unbuttoned button down and jeans with his checkered vans) he gave Turkey a pet and made sure he had some fresh water before heading out. 

It didn’t take Roxas long to get to Axel’s office and when he arrived, he found a place to park. He sat in his car for a moment checking his hair and the time to make sure he hadn’t received any last minute messages. When he only saw he had a message from Sora, he quickly pocketed his phone and climbed out of his car. 

He walked the path to Axel’s office and headed inside. 

“Oh hey Roxas! We haven’t seen you here in awhile, how are you?” Rosie, Axel’s secretary and from what Roxas could see from the frame on his desk, Kairi’s girlfriend.

“Hi Rosie. I’m doing better than I was. Is Axel in back with a patient?” Roxas asked pointing to the doors that lead to his physical therapy area. 

“That’s great to hear. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to call okay?” Rosie gave him a smile before pointing to the doors. “He’s just finishing up some paperwork if you wanna go back there.” she said. 

Roxas thanked you before heading back into the area where Axel helped most of his patients. The main room was filled with exercise equipment; treadmills, yoga mats and weight machines to help patients grow some of their strength back. 

In the very back of the room was a small office where Axel was hidden away, typing away at his computer. 

From where he stood Roxas could see the framed pictures on his desk and couldn’t help the giant smile that formed when he saw that Axel had a picture of him and Turkey sleeping on the couch framed on his desk.

He knocked on the door before heading inside. “Hey,” he said. 

Axel looked up at him and smiled. “Oh hi cutie. Come sit, I’m almost done. I’m referring a patient to a new doctor since they’re moving.”

Roxas took a seat and nodded. “I see, take your time Ax,” he said grabbing out his phone and replying to Sora’s message before looking through Twitter. 

A few minutes had passed when Axel finished typing and stood up and stretched. “You ready?” he asked. 

Roxas nodded and followed him out of his office, waving to Rosie before the left the building. He reached out and grabbed Axel’s hand, lacing their fingers as the walked the path to their destination. 

When the arrived, the Host lead them to a table that was secluded in the back. Roxas took a seat and thanked the host before looking at the menu to see what drink options they had. 

“I’m seeing a therapist tomorrow,” Axel mentioned as they looked through the menu. Roxas looked up as he decided on Root Beer to drink and moved onto what he wanted for dinner. 

“Oh?” he asked looking through the pasta options that they offered. 

“Yeah, Terra referred me to a friend of his. Her name is Aqua and I guess she’s really good at dealing with repressed trauma.” Axel explained setting his menu down. 

Roxas closed his once he settled on chicken macaroni and cheese and gave Axel a smile. “I’m really proud of you.” he said reaching over and grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and giving it a squeeze. 

Axel grinned brightly before pulling away. “Oh, before we order, I wanted to give you this,” he said digging in his coat pocket before pulling out a small velvet box, “Here.” 

Roxas watched Axel pull the box out of his pocket and he shook his head, “Axel, you, I… if you’re not ready to get married, I don’t want you forcing yourself into something you aren’t ready for.” he said. 

Shaking his head, Axel opened the box to reveal a dark gray Tungsten ring with two thin red lines engraved into it. “It’s not an engagement ring Roxas. It’s a promise ring.” he explained. 

“Promise ring?” Roxas tilted his head to the side taking the velvet box and examining the ring, running a finger over the rounded inner band. 

“Hm, yeah. When I proposed to Saix, I wasn’t ready, but I felt like it was something I had to do to keep our relationship afloat. Granted, getting married wasn’t going to solve our problems. When things got tense between you and I, I realized that I do want to marry you. But not until I work on myself and let go of the past. So this promise ring, is a promise for the both of us. To get married, when we’re both ready; whenever that may be in the future.” Axel took the ring and slipped it on Roxas’ ring finger. 

Holding his hand out, Roxas admired the ring before getting up out of his side of the booth and throwing himself at Axel, his eyes welling up with tears. “I love you so much,” he said moving to hold Axel’s face in his hands, “I would wait a lifetime to get married, if it meant that I at least got to spend it with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check on your friends and family. Please. It may not seem like it really matters, but just a check in once in a while can really make the difference. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Welp.
> 
> This story is coming to a close. There's only two more chapters left, as you can see I have updated the amount of chapters. 
> 
> I am very sad to see this story come to an end, but I am also really excited to start working on new wips! I have a couple of one shots based in this universe planned and a small ficlet that's from Turkey's POV!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	15. Turkey and Fixings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW at the end. Nothing extragavent. But it’s there.

Thanksgiving came and went and soon stores were lined with Christmas lights and decorations. Advertisements for the season’s hottest toys played on televisions and newspapers were filled to the brim with advertisements from different department stores, while the streets and sidewalks were covered in at least 4 inches of show. Roxas moved back in with Axel shortly after Thanksgiving and things were going swimmingly. Sure there had been disagreements but they found ways to solve the issue so the argument didn’t escalate.

Axel closed up his office after sending Rosie home early. He and Roxas had plans to start cleaning the house for their guests and Christmas dinner. Christmas itself was three days away and they wanted to make sure their guests had a grand time during their first Christmas together.

When he walked up to his car, Axel heard a scared meow. Looking around Axel tried to locate where the meows were coming from. 

“Kitty?” Axel asked as he looked around at the other cars to see if he could locate the cat. He heard the meowing behind him as he faced the car that parked next to him. He turned to his car to find a dirt covered, fluffy faced cat staring at him from his front tire.

“Oh hi pretty kitty,” Axel greeted reaching under the hood of the tire and grabbed the cat by the scruff of his neck and pulled it from the tire.

His eyes widened when he saw the girth of the cat, surprised a stray was so large. It had to belong to someone. “Hm, let's take you home, there’s supposed to be an awful storm tonight.” He said holding the cat to his body as he climbed into his car.

Axel set the cat onto the passenger seat and settled into his own seat, buckling himself in. Looking over at the cat, he could see how unsettled she was; he reached over and set her on his lap, scratching behind her ears. “Let’s get you home sweetie.” He said pulling out of his space and onto the main road.

Despite Axel’s best attempts to calm the cat, she kept meowing in loud pitches and moving around from his lap to the seat. It wasn’t long before he arrived home, grateful that Roxas was home. He wasn’t sure what to do or why the cat was so agitated. 

“Roxas?” Axel called as he walked into the door, throwing his bag to the side and holding the cat close to his body. 

“In the bedroom!” he heard Roxas call and he quickly made his way into the bedroom, cradling the crying cat against his chest. 

“Hey ba-, what is that?” Roxas asked dropping the shirt he was folding. 

Axel held the cat out to his boyfriend with a small smile. “It’s a cat! I found her hiding underneath my car. She won’t stop crying though. I think she’s scared.” he said sadly holding the cat out for Roxas to take. 

Roxas held her close and gave her a few pets over her nose. “I think she’s just scared. She has to belong to someone, she’s so big.” he said examining her neck for a collar. 

When he didn’t find one, he set the cat down on the bed and sighed. “Well, let me call Cloud, he may be able to find out if the cat has a microchip.” Roxas ran his hand over the cats head. 

Axel nodded, “Yeah, I’ll call him. Can you clean her off?” He asked grabbing his phone out and dialing Cloud’s number. 

While Axel called his dad, Roxas grabbed a washcloth and wet it down with warm water and started wiping down the cat, who had finally started to calm down and was purring and leaning into Roxas’ touch.

“Okay, thank you Cloud. See you soon. Bye.” Roxas heard as he grabbed a dry towel to dry the cat off. 

“What did he say?” Roxas asked as he made sure the cats fur wasn’t still damp.

“He’ll be here in a few minutes. He was heading home from work when I called.” Axel explained sitting on the bed.

The cat walked up to Axel and climbed into his lap. She looked up at him with big blue eyes before snuggling against his stomach.

Axel raised his eyebrows in surprise and scratched behind the cats ears.

“If she doesn’t have a home, can we keep her? I kind of have a name for her.” He looked up at Roxas.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at Axel, but followed it up with a small smile. “What’s the name?” He asked.

“Stuffing. Since you named Turkey, Turkey. I figured we could follow this trend of Thanksgiving dishes,” Axel said shrugging his shoulders. 

Roxas laughed and pressed a kiss to Axel’s cheek before getting up to answer the door when it rang a few minutes later.

He returned to the bedroom holding Turkey who was watching and reaching out for Cloud. 

“Alright, I have a scanner here that will determine if she has a microchip. It’ll give me the code and we can search for it and find out if she belongs to anyone.” Cloud explained turning the scanner on. He hovered it over the cat’s neck and over her body. When there was no beeping, he turned it off and put it away.

“Well, she doesn’t belong to anyone. You said she was crying a lot?” Cloud directed his question at Axel.

“Yeah, she was crying and meowing. She only just settled down. I think maybe she was scared. Are you sure she doesn’t belong to anyone? She’s so heavy and chunky.” Axel explained, looking skeptical. The cat had to be about 20 pounds.

Cloud reached out to the cat and picked her up, examining her teeth, ears and mouth. Then he moved to her back and tail before gently prodding at her stomach. He stopped for a moment before a small smile formed on his face as he continued to gently massage the cats belly.

Once he confirmed his suspicions, he started to laugh and shake his head.

“Dad?” Roxas asked confused, tilting his head as he watched Cloud set the cat down on the bed.

“Make sure you have blankets you don’t mind ruining,” Cloud watched the cat get comfortable on the bed as Turkey watched from Roxas’ shoulders. “Your new feline friend is about 6 weeks pregnant and will probably be giving birth soon. Make sure she has blankets to nest in. A large box will help too. Make sure she feels safe and secure. She must’ve sensed Axel was a good person. Most wild pregnant cats aren’t all that keen about humans.”

Axel looked at Roxas with wide eyes. “Well, I guess Stuffing does fit her doesn’t it?”

When Cloud left, they quickly found a large enough box that would be suitable for Stuffing to nest in. They made sure she had enough old blankets and kept some towels handy for when she inevitably went into labor. 

Roxas fell to the couch after the finished cleaning the house and thanked Axel has he handed him a glass of wine. “So now we have two cats and who knows how many kittens coming,” he said leaning forward to take a sip of his wine, “When did this become our life?” he asked pouting. 

“Sorry babe, we can adopt the kittens out. Didn’t you say that Sora’s been wanting a kitten? Maybe Stuffing’s litter will be the perfect fit? Plus that can be part of his present.” Axel suggested. 

Roxas licked his lips before nodding and set his wine glass down. “I knew there was a reason I was dating you.” he teased as Turkey came out of the bedroom. He hopped onto the couch and onto Roxas’ chest, curling up like he always did. 

Axel chuckled as he reached over and ran a finger over Turkey’s back. “Xion and Namine will be at the airport tomorrow at 5 in the morning on Christmas Eve. Do you wanna join me or do you wanna watch Stuffing?” 

Roxas ran his hands over Turkey’s back slowly as he stared at nothing absently shrugging his shoulders. “I should probably stay here in case she goes into labor. They’re staying here right?” he turned to Axel. 

Axel nodded and set his wine glass down to grab his phone. “Yeah, they’re staying until January third.” he said scrolling through what Roxas assumed was his calendar. 

A comfortable silence fell over them as Axel looked through his phone and Roxas sipped his wine. Once his glass was empty, he headed into the kitchen and rinsed it out and put it in the dishwasher. “I’m off to bed. Be in soon?” He asked Axel was in an intense game of Disney TsumTsum.

“Yeah, good night.” Axel paused his game long enough to give Roxas a kiss before dragging his attention back to his game.

— 

Early Christmas morning, Roxas and Axel woke up to Stuffing crying and three new kittens who were eagerly nursing on her while she cleaned them.

Axel rubbed his eyes as he leaned over to pet Stuffing. “Christmas miracles.” He said amused before heading into the living room where Naminé, Xion and Roxas were sitting on the couch, talking and drinking hot chocolate. 

Roxas looked like he could fall asleep right where he sat but quickly blinked and took a sip of his hot chocolate.

“Good morning sleepyhead! We heard the good news, you’re grandparents!” Xion teased as Roxas got up to make Axel some hot chocolate.

Axel laughed and took a seat on the arm chair. “Yeah, something like that. Good thing it worked out the way it did, though.” He thanked Roxas, kissing his cheek.

“Have you decided to name them?” Namine asked as she set her empty mug down on the coffee table. She pulled her feet up onto the couch and leaned on Xion who was still drinking her coffee. 

“We named the mama stuffing, so we’re thinking of naming the kittens, potato, cranberry, pumpkin and,” Axel rubbed at his eye as he yawned before looking to Roxas, “What was the last one?” 

Roxas leaned into Axel as he answered, “Casserole, we figured Cassie for short.” He raised his hand to cover his yawn.

Naminé giggled as she tapped Roxas’ foot. “Go sleep more, we can entertain ourselves out here.” She said, Xion nodding her head next to her.

“Hm? Oh yeah, go sleep Rox, we’ll look through our stockings in an hour.” Axel promised kissing Roxas’ forehead before making him go back to the bedroom.

“Can we see the kittens?” Namine asked as Roxas meandered down the hallway to his room. 

Axel nodded and stood up. “Yeah, we put them in the office. It’s super cute, Turkey has been watching the kittens and cleaning them. Roxas and Cloud think he was used for breeding since he acts like they’re his own litter. Stuffing I think really enjoys the help.” he explained as he lead them to the office. 

Slowly walking inside, Namine and Xion looked over the box that was filled with Turkey, Stuffing and the kittens. All four kittens were nursing while Stuffing laid their with her eyes closed and Turkey licked her forehead. 

“C’mon buddy, let's leave them alone.” Axel said grabbing Turkey (wearing a green sweater with knitted ornaments on it) and cradling him close

Turkey chirped and jumped from Axel’s arms and ran into the bedroom.

“He really loves Roxas, doesn’t he?” Xion asked as she kneeled down to gently pet Stuffing’s forehead.

“Yeah. They needed each other.” Axel smiled before turning his attention to the kittens, pointing out which one was which based on their patterns. 

“Do you guys know what you’re gonna do with them?” Namine asked running a gentle finger over Cranberry’s back. 

“Hm, yeah, when they’re old enough we’re going to give them away, adopt them out.” Axel said as Namine moved to scratch behind Stuffing’s ears. 

A few more minutes passed before they headed out of the room to watch TV while they waited for Roxas to wake up. 

A couple hours had passed when Roxas finally woke up and join them in the living room. He sat next to Axel and leaned into him. “When are the others gonna be here?” he asked thanking Namine as she handed him, his stocking. 

“In about an hour,” Axel answered as Roxas started to take out the items of his stocking. He had received candy, a shot glass with a monogrammed R, a pair of striped socks and a red panda plushie with a certificate that showed a red panda had been named after him. 

Axel, Namine and Xion had already sorted through their stockings, and their goodies were sitting on the coffee table. 

Axel received more yarn, new needles, a new wine topper, a Sea Salt vanilla candle and some sugar free candies. 

Xion and Namine had a combined stocking that had candies, a pet collar, cat treats, a new set of paint brushes for Namine and wine toppers with X and N.

“Why are there collars in our stockings?” Namine asked teasingly narrowing her eyes at Axel and Roxas.

Axel just shrugged while Roxas got up to answer the knock on the door, returning a few moments later with Demyx, Zexion, Riku and Sora. 

“Merry Christmas!” Sora exclaimed as he set presents under the tree and gave everyone a hug. He stopped at Roxas and tilted his head.

“You okay? You look like you haven’t slept.” He said.

Roxas shrugged after giving his cousin a hug. “Stuffing had kittens last night.” He explained as Demyx and Zexion took their seats on the floor. Demyx was playing with Turkey, dragging a piece of yarn that Axel had cut off.

“Stuffing?” Sora asked confused.

Roxas looked over at Axel who quickly explained how he found Stuffing by his car and decided to take her home because of the blizzard that was set to come in that night. 

“Cloud looked her over and told us she was pregnant. As soon as she can be, he’s gonna have her spayed and we’re gonna make sure she has all her shots.” Roxas explained. 

“What are you guys going to do with the kittens?” Riku asked as he sat down, grabbing Turkey and placing him on his lap. 

Axel looked at Roxas who just grinned as he grabbed a couple of envelopes from the side table and handed them off to their guests. “I did some research and Stuffing is a Norwegian Forest Cat. Her kittens, are probably mixed unless she was bred with a male Norwegian Forest Cat, but they are hypoallergenic.” he said handing the last envelope to Sora. 

They all stared at Roxas who motioned with his hands to open the envelopes before sitting down next to Axel. 

Their friends all gave them funny looks before opening the envelopes as Roxas started bouncing in his seat and Axel laughed. 

“Wait, you’re giving us the kittens?” Zexion asked as he looked over Demyx’s shoulder.

“If you guys want them. We wanted to give them good homes and instead of just selling them, we figured you guys would like one instead.” Axel explained.

“This is amazing, thank you so much guys!” Demyx said which was followed by everyone else thanking them as well.

“Can we see them?” Riku asked as Sora stared at the paper with a giant, shocked grin. 

“Yeah, follow me,” Roxas stood up from the couch up from the couch and lead them to the bedroom where Stuffing was laying on the bed while the kittens slept.

Riku and Sora cooed at the kittens while Zexion and Demyx paid attention to Stuffing, who was happy to be receiving the attention.

“She’s so sweet,” Zexion commented as Demyx moved his hand around on the duvet which Stuffing watched intently before pouncing to catch his hand, only to rub her face against it once she caught it. 

Once they were all finished playing with Stuffing and her kittens, they headed out to exchange presents.

They had gotten Zexion school supplies for his classroom and a new book bag for work. Demyx received a gift card to his favorite music store, a new guitar case and blank sheets.

Namine received new art supplies, canvases and a gift card from a local art supply shop in Radiant Garden called Tangled Art Supply. 

Xion received a new laptop bag, a seashell necklace and a small vase that was covered in seashells.

Sora and Riku has received new kitchen supplies, all Mickey Mouse themed per Sora’s and begrudgingly Riku's request. 

“Oh these are so cute! I didn’t know you guys were big Mickey Mouse fans!” Namine said as she slipped her hand into a Mickey Mouse head patterned oven mit.

Sora just laughed as Riku’s face flushed and buried his face in his hands. 

Everyone waited patiently as Axel and Roxas started to open their gifts, a couple of them joint gifts for both of them. Their haul consisted of more sweaters for Turkey, a new camera for Roxas, guitar picks for Axel, cat shaped cookie cutters for Axel and a nice laptop bag for Roxas. 

When wrapping paper and bags were cleaned up, snacks and finger foods were placed on the coffee table and drinks were passed out.

Roxas leaned into Axel as he sipped on root beer and watched Demyx and Zexion as they played with Turkey.

“So when are you two gonna get married now that you guys are seemingly doing better?” Riku asked scratching behind Stuffing’s ears.

Roxas looked up Axel and shrugged. “We don’t know yet. I think we’ll know when we know.” He leaned up and kissed Axel’s cheek.

As the day turned to night, Demyx and Zexion headed out having made promises to see Marluxia and Xigbar. Sora and Riku were the next to leave, needing to go home and wrap presents for Riku’s family.

Xion and Namine turned in a few hours leaving Roxas and Axel on the couch with Turkey and Stuffing.

“Christmas was good this year. Now we just gotta make it through New Years.” Roxas leaned back, eyes closed.

Axel chuckled and squeezed Roxas’ shoulder, “you act like New Years is a big deal.” He said.

Roxas shrugged, opening an eye and staring at Axel, “it’s just not my favorite holiday. Vanitas was always high and we always fought and if that’s how we started the new year, well, the rest of the year would end up the same way.”

Axel nodded and pulled Roxas into a hug kissing his forehead. “We’ll make sure this New Years is the best.” He promised.

And it was. Isa, Terra, Sora and Riku all came over and the evening was spent playing board games, talking about what their plans for the new year were and how excited Terra and Isa were to getting married in just a couple of weeks.

Riku bumped his shoulder against Axel’s when the meandered into the kitchen to refill drinks and snacks that were set out on the coffee table. 

“You doing okay?” Riku asked as he motioned to the rest of the group who were asking Isa and Terra about their wedding plans. 

Axel looked over and watched as Terra kissed Isa on the cheek which caused Isa’s face to flush as he moved to hide his face in Terra’s chest.

He didn’t think about it much; Isa getting married to Terra and being back in his life as his friend. It felt natural to him, as if this is what his life was supposed to be.

His attention was caught by Sora and Roxas who were laughing as Sora placed giant goofy clown sunglasses on Turkey who just stood there and allow them to entertain themselves at his expense. He occasionally reached out to Roxas who rubbed his ears a few times as he caught his breath before another set of giggles escaped.

“Yeah, I’m doing fantastic,” he turned to Riku and handed him the tray of cheese and crackers.

Riku nodded wordlessly giving him a smile before returning to the living room.

“Who wants more drinks?” Axel asked as he poured himself some more wine before grabbing the other’s requested drinks and bringing them to the living room.

A few hours passed, Mario Kart was pulled out and friendships were threatened. When it grew close to midnight, everyone eagerly watched the New Year’s Eve Clocktower special as the Twilight Town Clocktower struck Midnight and the people watching in the square cheered and kissed their loved ones.

Roxas pulled Axel into a kiss which made everyone catcall and tease both of them, which only encouraged Axel to deepen the kiss, with a tilt of his head and a slip of the tongue.

Once the excitement wore off, Roxas and Axel started grabbing blankets and pillows for everyone before bidding them goodnight. 

The remainder of January was a mix of work, vet appointments with Cloud and making plans for their trip to Destiny Islands which they finally settled to go in May. 

As soon as they were able to take her in, Stuffing was spayed, which she wasn’t happy about the cone of shame as Roxas proudly called it, and the kittens had received their first round of shots. 

Terra and Saix’s wedding was a small affair that was followed by a bigger reception. Axel was glad he was able to make it, with Roxas’ hand laced with his. It was the final nail to really solidify his and Saix’s reformed friendship.

Axel glanced at his watch for what must have been the third time in ten minutes giving the waiter a small, apologetic smile as he filled up his water. He quickly grabbed his phone and texted Roxas, asking him where he was and why he was taking so long. 

For their anniversary, they decided to stay in. Axel had made Roxas’ favorite Zucchini Ziti and Roxas had gotten vanilla ice cream to go with the apple pie that Sora had baked for them. 

Axel started growing worried as time started to creep to an hour. Roxas had gone to run some errands and pick up Axel’s gift and he hadn’t heard from him since he left. He had messaged him once already and with each passing moment, he grew more and more worried. 

As he grabbed his phone again to text Roxas when the front door opened and in walked in Roxas with the apple pie, ice cream and what looks to be Axel’s gift. 

Axel let out a relieved sigh,“You waited all year to do that didn’t you?” He glared at his boyfriend as Roxas started to put things away. 

He turned to Axel and grinned, but didn’t say anything as he moved around the island to give his boyfriend a kiss. “I may or may not have.” he said giving him another kiss before grabbing his gift. 

“You’re a little shit,” Axel said pulling Roxas into another kiss before grabbing Roxas’ gift off the table and handing it to him. 

“Hmm, but that’s why you love me.” Roxas said cheekily as he motioned for Axel to open the bag. 

Axel quickly pulled out the tissue paper that was in the bag before pulling out a medium sized box. “Babe…” he trailed off as he opened the box revealing a beautiful Boluva watch. 

Roxas bit his lip, which didn’t stop the smile that formed on his face. “I know how badly you’ve been wanting a new watch and I saw how much you liked this one when we went out last week.” he said. 

Axel admired the watch for a moment before setting the watch down and pulling Roxas into a kiss and a hug. He buried his face into Roxas’ hair and held him close for a moment before kissing him again. 

Roxas chuckled as he kissed him back hands resting on his chest. “Happy Anniversary baby.” he said leaning up and kissing Axel again. 

Axel smiled rubbing his hands along Roxas’ biceps before turning around and handing him his own bag. “I hope you like it,” he leaned against the table. 

Roxas’ eyebrows furrowed as he opened the bag, tossing tissue paper to the side and sending it falling to the floor. He pulled out a binder which had a teal leather binding. In silver foiling across the center, read Memories. 

“What is it?” Roxas asked as he set the album down and opened it. 

The first page was filled with colorful craft paper and shiny stickers held polaroids from Axel’s birthday and from their trip to the zoo in place. 

Each page was filled with pictures they had taken over the past year, pictures from Sora’s bachelor party, the wedding, their fourth date and New Years Eve when Isa and Terra had taken polaroid’s of them off in the corner.

“Axel…” Roxas turned to Axel after looking through the rest of the pages that were completely blank. “This is amazing. Why are the last ones empty?” he asked. 

“So we can fill them with more memories.” Axel replied wrapping his arm around Roxas’ shoulders. 

Roxas leaned into Axel and ran his hand over the face of the album. “This is beautiful Axel, I’m speechless.” he said looking up at him and standing on his toes to kiss his cheek. 

“I’m glad you like it, come on. The ziti is almost finished.” Axel pulled him into a kiss. 

They migrated to the living room and sat together eating their ziti and watching a random season of Futurama. After they were done eating dinner. Roxas set his plate down and crawled into Axel’s lap, hands cupping either side of his neck as he kissed him. 

Axel kissed him back, gripping his ass as he stood up and carried him to the bedroom. Roxas laughed against Axel’s mouth as he was pushed against the wall after the redhead had slipped on the rug, entangling his hands in Axel’s hair. 

“You okay?” Axel asked trailing kisses down Roxas’ neck.

Roxas let out a breathy moan before nodding, “Yeah, I’m good.” He replied.

They blindly made their way through the hallway and to their room, throwing articles of clothing in their wake. 

Axel gently set Roxas on the bed before helping him remove his pants and boxers. He stroked Roxas’ erection a few times leaning up to kiss his boyfriend.

Roxas groaned against Axel’s mouth, hands on his shoulders as pleasure ran through his body. His head fell back as Axel licked at him before taking the head into his mouth.

Hands on thighs held them apart as Axel bobbed his head, trailing his tongue along the shaft.

They eventually made their way to the bed, Axel propped against the headboard with Roxas straddling his lap, hands running over thighs and chest. 

Axel prepped him and rolled on a condom before Roxas lowered himself down gently.

Roxas rolled his hips, gasps and moans leaving his mouth as Axel kissed and nipped at his neck and jaw. He entangled his hands into Axel’s hair, pulling his head back and kissed him as he continued to fuck his boyfriend.

They came within seconds of each other and after Roxas cleaned them up, they snuggled together, falling asleep in each other’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe that this story is almost over. Just one more chapter. 💖💖


End file.
